


A Late Night Walk

by Slider (TemporalKnight)



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Emma Isn't Exactly Stable, F/F, Lisa Is Supportive and Helpful, Lisa Was Never Caught By Coil, Renfield!Emma, Taylor Can Be Violently Protective, Vampire!Taylor, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TemporalKnight/pseuds/Slider
Summary: Taylor died in the locker and was buried. It's a real shame she didn't stay in her grave. A shame for the city that is. Lisa on the other hand is certainly happy to have stumbled across a vampire bodyguard. A bodyguard who needs a friend and protector just as badly as Lisa herself does. Perhaps these two can help each other to heal? And...maybe make sure that the newly reborn vampire doesn't destroy half the city too along the way...
Relationships: Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver/Lisa Wilbourn | Tattletale
Comments: 60
Kudos: 313





	1. Walk 01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This has officially been split off from my snippet thread (A Late Night Walk). It has gotten quite a warm welcome over there and has finally reached a point that I feel comfortable confirming that I can easily continue this story as the characters are growing into themselves.
> 
> One note, in this continuity, the canon timeline's a bit different. Lisa arriving in Brockton Bay and the Locker Incident happen at approximately the same time.

**Walk 01**

Coil stared at the feed from his soldiers' cameras and couldn't help the smile that spread over his face. It had taken quite a bit of effort to track his newest pet down, she was slippery and far too smart for her own good. She'd led him on a merry little chase for most of the day, but now the sun was set and the crowds had diminished and her cover was gone. She'd fallen right into his web. Just as they all did. Just as this city would.

His pet would show him the secrets of all of his enemies, whether she wanted to or not. He would rule here. His victory was all but assured now.

Dropping the timeline where he held the team back, Coil chuckled and split the timeline again as his soldiers handed his pet - Tattletale, he would name her Tattletale - the phone.

In the first world he brought his mirth under control and crooned, "Good evening, Miss Livsey. It's a pleasure finally getting to speak with you."

"You have me at a disadvantage," his Tattletale responded. She kept up a good act, her voice didn't waver at all. Yet he could see the fear in the way her eyes were flashing from one soldier to another, never settling for more than a second. The alley had no way out except through the three soldiers. Three trained soldiers with pistols and automatics vs. a single girl whose only skill was to talk. Ah how he loved to see the moment of despair.

"You may call me Coil, or if you prefer, Boss. I have a business proposal for you, Miss Livsey. I would like to purchase your services."

Her eyes centered on the phone and he saw her swallow hard.

The second timeline had just picked up the microphone after leaving her to stew for a few moments longer. Now to see how she responded to outright threats.

"Miss Livsey, I am Coil," his second iteration asserted. "You now work for me."

"I don't remember being hired."

"Oh you're not being hired, my dear. You simply work for me or you die. It really is that simple."

A shudder ran through her form and he grinned wider. Delightful.

In the first iteration she had taken a breath and shifted her eyes to focus on the pistol held by the soldier with the phone. "So, _Boss_ , what happens if I say that I'm pretty happy staying out on my own?"

"Well, Miss Livsey, I would be very disappointed, and I believe you would have to be careful of consequences from such a choice. Brockton Bay is a dangerous city for young women after all."

Before either iteration of his Tattletale could respond, the light in the feed changed. One of the soldiers turned and Coil could see another teenager standing at the mouth of the alley. Really, the torn black formal dress and long hair were the few clues to her gender. The dirt caked onto her skin, primarily around her fingers, and the grass and wood chips in her hair were doing an excellent job of obscuring the girl beneath the grime. Coil frowned as his soldier barked at her to move along in both iterations. The girl just walked a step closer, stumbling after she had barely moved two paces and leaning against a nearby wall.

"Help…me…"

"Didn't you hear me, get the fuck out of here kid!" the soldier snapped. He pulled his pistol, leaving it aimed towards the ground as he glared at her. "This girl is under arrest for shoplifting. Enforcement is handling this. Get. Out."

"Hun…gry…"

In his first timeline, his pet gasped, her eyes widening. "No fucking way…You guys need to leave. Now. Don't antagonize her. Don't provoke her. Don't make any sudden movements. Especially Big Guy A, yeah you knucklehead, with the assault rifle."

"You think we're stupid, Livsey?"

Coil stared closer at the screen, trying to take in everything about the interloper. In Timeline B his Tattletale remained silent, still apparently too distracted with processing his direct threat to bother focusing on the child. Perhaps he should drop that option and have one set of soldiers attack the girl?

He shrugged. Why drop the timeline at all? He'd already threatened his Tattletale in that one, a bit of visceral demonstration would certainly drive home his message that she was _his_.

"Kill the dirty one," he said in the second timeline, while his first iteration said, "Hold your fire."

The soldier in the second world didn't bother responding. He just lifted his pistol and shot the girl in the head. His Tattletale screamed and dropped backwards onto her hands and buttocks and scrambled deeper into the alley. He snorted at the pathetic display and was nearly about to have the cellphone brought back to her when the dirty teenager stood up from the alley's ground.

He smiled, two capes for the price of one. This could not get any more perf-

" _ **RAWWWWWHHHHHH**_!" The inhuman screech she let out was so loud he pushed back from the console and covered his ears. Even worse, as her mouth had opened he'd seen _fangs_ in her visage. She dropped to all fours and before Coil could say anything, she _pounced_ forward onto the soldier that had shot her. One reached down to try to pull the girl off his partner, but the man was far too slow. She had already brought her teeth down onto her prey's neck and torn a significant chunk away with just her jaw. Blood spurted across the alley and she clamped on again, nearly tearing his head off from the force of her second bite.

The other soldier's hand had finally reached her. He barely grazed her shoulder before she let go of the dead mercenary. She twisted so fast it was hard for Coil to follow her movement. She grabbed his hand with fingers that had extended into claws. Her other hand came up and she raked her other clawed hand through the armor plating on his arm. The soldier screamed, blood spurting into the air as the armor split like butter. The cape clamped her mouth onto his arm sucking in a spurt of the flying blood.

The third soldier had managed to bring his weapon to bear in the meantime and he laid into her with a fully automatic spray directly into her head and back. The girl barely even flinched, the holes closing almost as soon as they had formed. As soon as the bullets stopped flying, she launched herself from the, now dead, second mercenary and landed on the third. Growling and snarling, she ripped the weapon from the man's hands hard enough to take two fingers with it as she tossed it down the alleyway. Then she leaned down and bit into his neck as well, sucking greedily at the wound as the mercenary spasmed and died underneath her.

Coil could only stare at the monitor in front of him as the girl's blood red eyes met his own. There was nothing left in those eyes. Nothing human. Nothing he could manipulate, nothing he could talk to, nothing he could reason with or bribe. She was _rage_ and _pain_ and _hunger_.

And she was staring _right at him_. She dropped the dead man and stood, crushing the camera under one foot, the sound of flesh caving in echoing through the speakers from the other cameras' monitors. One of the men had fallen in such a way as to still show the alleyway as she stepped off the corpse and started further into the alley.

"Please! I can help you! I can help you remember! I can help you get food! You don't need to do this!"

"Hun…gry…"

"No, no, no, please!"

His Tattletale's scream echoed through the alley. Carnage. Complete, utter carnage. In less than 10 seconds the dirty cape had killed three professionals without a scratch and murdered his newest pet. And she showed no signs of stopping. And she somehow _knew_ he was there.

Coil dropped the timeline, breathing hard, his hands clenched on the arms of the chair he was sitting in. He shuddered as the first soldier in his initial iteration reached for his pistol, the girl stumbling towards the three men.

"I said _hold_!" Coil screamed into his microphone. The man flinched, his hand moving away from his gun. "Get out of there! Do not shoot the girl, don't touch her!"

He split timelines again. In one he screamed: "Get Livsey and get out!" while in the second he shouted: "Leave Livsey as a distraction and get out!"

In the first one, Livsey snorted. "Hey, girl! Help me and I can get you food! I can help you, just get me away from these guys!"

The girl looked at Livsey then at the soldiers. She snarled, her mouth revealing the fangs and this time he could actually see her fingernails lengthen and sharpen as she took one step forward and leaped towards the man holding Livsey as they ran past her.

In the second iteration, Livsey waved as his men started to run past the girl. "Bye bye! Hi there Miss, I think I can help you." The men were gone before the camera was able to pick up anything further.

He scowled as his men died again in the first iteration and the girl came to a rest in front of Livsey, not even breathing hard. Not even _breathing_. Livsey just smirked. "Had your fill? Great. Now let's get you cleaned up and I can help you. And then we have an asshole to find before he finds us. Cool?"

"Who…who are…"

"My name is Lisa. You saved my ass. As long as you don't eat me, I can help."

"…I'm hungry…"

"Okay. Let's see what we can do about that."

He dropped the timeline, and fell back into his chair, nearly panting. Letting Livsey have nearly free reign over the feral girl was unfortunate, but it was better than the alternatives. At least this way, he could potentially salvage this. Even if he couldn't recruit either of them, he could at least potentially prevent them from becoming enemies. Forced recruitments were common in Brockton Bay. Livsey had to know that. If he was careful with how he approached her next time, he could simply pretend to have been trying to drive a hard bargain. He wouldn't have to worry about her setting a regenerating blur of fangs and claws loose to hunt him down.

Yes, he could salvage this.

Or…he could just leave town and try again in a different city.

Surely, there was a city without a crazy nightmare vampire whose loosely held leash was in the clutches of a girl with a grudge against him?

Surely…


	2. Walk 02

**Walk 02**

Getting the mystery girl to be lucid enough that Lisa's instincts weren't utterly _screaming_ at her to run the fuck away as fast as possible was difficult. Difficult enough that by the time they got back to her apartment, Lisa was both exhausted and just shy of preening. Going for the blood bank in the nearby clinic had been a stroke of genius that she'd only twigged on to by seeing the way Dead Girl was eyeing the veins of almost everyone they passed even sort of near on the road.

Not that she had let Dead Girl be seen - seriously, who in their right mind was going to just let Dead Girl walk around looking like…that? Lisa suppressed another shudder at the flash of the horror show that probably would've resulted if someone had managed to sufficiently startle her, or worse, try to manhandle her. Yeah, no cops, no capes. Nobody in this city had any fucking _tact_. Not that she did either, but she at least knew when to tread lightly instead of rushing in like a bull. Usually. Sometimes.

She did feel bad about ripping off the blood bank though. She'd had to find a way to pay them back in the next day or two. It shouldn't be _that_ hard to funnel some rich asshole's money into their accounts. It wasn't quite a one for one, but it was better than nothing and now they didn't have to worry about Dead Girl going psycho on anyone as a bonus. She'd need to find a more permanent solution to the horror hunger, but that was a problem for the morning.

"So, this is where I live. You still have no idea where your home is right?"

Dead Girl turned to her, her eyes focused, but they took far too long to blink.

_Bodily functions optimized for nocturnal activity. Bodily functions are not fully revitalized from meal. Will need more blood to resume an illusion of life._

Illusion of life. Perfect. She was dealing with the undead. Because that made sense. Once again, Lisa questioned the wisdom of actually taking this girl home with her. She should've just called the PRT and taken her chances with getting out of town before that Coil asshole realized she'd cut Dead Girl loose.

"I…I think my home is…I think my mother is dead…I don't really…I don't…I'm sorry…"

And then Dead Girl had to go and say stuff like that. She'd been doing it all night. Little things completely at odds with the sheer existential _terror_ that she had inspired when Coil's mercs had accosted them. Lisa sighed and forced a smile. "It's fine, it's not a problem at all. You can stay here as long as you want."

"It's not safe." She grimaced and her eyes dropped to the floor. "I'm still hungry. I…I don't remember anyone…Everyone else I saw just ran away…I don't want to hurt you because I get too hungry…"

_Blood bags weren't ideal. Needs blood from living creatures to satisfy urges. Will not hurt you unless turning feral. Terrified of being alone again._

"I'm not worried; if I was scared you would hurt me do you think I would show you where I sleep?"

Dead Girl's eyes shut, her fists clenched, and she shrugged, clumps of dirt breaking loose from the rags of her dress - her _funeral dress_ \- to fall to the ground at her feet. "People can turn on you. I don't want to do that."

_Previous friends turned on her. Doesn't want to be like them. Terrified of being alone, terrified of being a betrayer._

"I promise you'll be fine. We'll figure out how to get your hunger under control in the morning okay?"

She just nodded.

Lisa stepped closer to Dead Girl and gently grasped her shoulder. "Let's get you cleaned up and into some real clothes, I think I have a big shirt and some pants that might fit. You probably won't fit into any of my bras though."

She winced. "I…don't think I wear a bra. This thing doesn't have one at least and I don't remember needing one…"

"Okay, well, that makes things easier. Come on, shower first. You're going to feel _a lot_ better once you get all of that dirt off and start looking like a real person again. Trust me."

Dead Girl didn't react, though she did let Lisa lead her into the bathroom. She didn't even react when Lisa managed to get her dress off, still staring at the floor.

_Doesn't think her body could be viewed as attractive. Knows she's not normal. Knows she's not healthy. Reactions ingrained from before body's changes. Issues with body image were pre-existing._

Damn, the rabbit hole just kept getting deeper. Lisa bit her lip trying to force aside the growing, nagging thought that maybe Dead Girl had wound up dead as a result of her isolation. If her parents were dead too…on top of her problems with her friends and her body issues…Lisa shook her head and plastered another smile on her face as she settled the girl under the shower head and started to get her cleaned up.

"I love your hair. It's basically the perfect length and once we get rid of all this crap, I'm fairly certain it's going to be naturally curly. Mine is always straight. You have no idea how much effort I have to put in to get curls."

"I…think I liked my hair…"

"Well then I'll make sure to get it into whatever style you loved once we wake up in the morning. No sense in doing anything fancy tonight, we just gotta make sure to get out the gunk so we have something to work with."

Dead Girl nodded.

Lisa switched tactics, studiously ignoring the wood chips that were swirling down her drain from the clumps in the girl's hair. "So, I need to call you something, because the name I have in my head is just not super pleasant."

"I don't - "

"I know. That's why we're going to play a game. Can you turn around so that you're looking at me?"

Dead Girl turned and met her eyes. "Great! Now, just relax, let the water knead your shoulders, loosen those knots. Just look at my eyes and listen to my voice. Don't consciously reach for your name, just _know_ that you _have_ one." She nodded. Lisa smiled, dropping her hands down to take the girl's in her own. "Alright, here we go." She let her power ramp up, pushing aside the growing headache, and she started to sing, "A, B, C, D, E, F, G…" As she went through the alphabet, Lisa watched for the telltale widening of recognition in the girl's irises and the involuntary squeezing of her hands. This girl may not consciously remember much about herself, but she knew enough that the memories were _there_. And Lisa was the _perfect_ one to find those threads.

The girl's hands spasmed ever so slightly and her eyes widened. Lisa cut off and smiled. "Awesome. So your name starts with a 'T' then."

The girl's hands tightened again and she took a reflexive breath even if her body didn't seem to need it. "How do you know?"

"Can you keep a secret, Tee?" The brunette nodded. "I'm a cape. I can make good guesses. _Really_ good guesses. I just need something to start off with and then I can get who's sleeping with who, passwords to accounts, or even just names."

"My name was 'Tee'?"

"Well probably not _just_ Tee," Lisa said shrugging. "But it almost definitely started with that. And with that I can figure out your full name. I have enough information about you that it'll just take me an hour or two on the internet and I should be able to track you down."

"I'd…I'd like that…But I'm…really tired right now…" She wasn't just saying that. Lisa saw her swaying now that she had mentioned it and her eyelids were starting to droop.

"Okay, I've got you cleaned up, so let's just get you dry. Then I can get you some clothes and you can sleep for a bit while I try to figure out who you are. Alright?"

Tee nodded. She tried to smile at Lisa too, but it was strained enough that it almost physically _hurt_ to see the pain in that expression.

"Come on, Tee. Let's get you to bed."

\/\/\/\/

"Sunlight burns her too, judging by how she cringed away from it," Lisa murmured to herself as she set the laptop on her knees. "Thank god for migraines and blackout shades. But, god, can you get any more vampire cliche than being burned by sunlight, drinking blood, and clawing out of your own grave? At least she doesn't quite seem to realize that last one…yet." Lisa shuddered. Fuck, how terrifying must that have been? To wake up trapped, alone, underground. Then to literally have to punch and claw and scramble just to get out of the -

"Nope, nope, nope, _not_ thinking of that, thank you very much. Stupid fucking imagination. Stupid fucking power. Okay, let's find who you are, Tee." She started tapping at the keyboard, gnawing on some jerky to avoid having to get up and make food. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long…

Twenty minutes later, Lisa was scowling at her computer screen. "No wonder she fucking triggered…They really need to get the Lazarus tables at this city's morgues. Could've avoided this shit if the asshole penny-pinchers had been willing to spring for the good shit. Wouldn't have been hard to realize she'd regenerated while on their fucking slab _then_ would it? Fuckers."

She tried to ignore how if they _had_ gotten the fancy weight sensors, Tee - _Taylor_ \- would never have been wandering around just in time to save her from 'recruitment'. Unable to fully suppress the shudder that ran through her, Lisa set her laptop to the side and stretched. "Okay, time to find out more details."

She grabbed a pad and wrote a quick note to Taylor, stepping into the bedroom to leave it on the side table. The odds of her waking up before Lisa got back were minimal, but better to be safe than sorry. She paused as she stared at Taylor's body, curled up in Lisa's sheets, hand clutching at the stuffed dog that Lisa had left her with.

_No breath. Minimal pulse. Body no longer requires direct oxygenation. Breathing is muscle memory only, not required._

"Yeah, I got that before, power, thanks a bunch." Sighing, she pulled the covers back up over Taylor and double-checked that the shades were sealed. Finally satisfied, she pushed the brunette's hair away from her temple, her hand lingering for a moment longer on Taylor's cold skin. "Thanks for saving me, Taylor. I'll be right back. I just gotta go and check on what happened to your old man and see if anyone is looking for you. Don't go anywhere okay? Please. I'll be back, I _promise_."

Taylor clutched the stuffed animal tighter and whimpered in her sleep.

"Sleep well, Taylor."

* * *

The cemetery was more depressing than Lisa had expected. It brought back too many painful memories and regrets and she could practically feel the itch under her skin to just leave and never look back. She'd never even come to the cemetery when Rex died and here she was for a girl she didn't even know? A girl who couldn't even remember her own _name_?

And yet…Taylor had saved her. She could endure a little discomfort if it meant getting answers for the amnesiac brunette. Squaring her shoulders and straightening her blouse, Lisa sauntered forward. It only took her three minutes to find the right grave site.

It wasn't like it was hard with the small group that had gathered near the gaping hole in the ground.

Lisa bit her lip as she got closer, stepping just far enough off the path to see around the four people at the grave.

_Dirt displaced to the sides in even amounts. Came up from below. Imprints on the ground are hand-prints. Imprints further out are shoe prints. Walking away from grave. No imprints walking to the grave. Onlookers: police, one PRT agent. Called by maintenance for assistance. Maintenance was alerted by crying girl._

Lisa frowned, clamping down on her power. The confirmation that Taylor actually _had_ climbed out of her own coffin and grave - instead of just _looking_ like she had - set her stomach roiling. And yet…panning her gaze across the scene one more time, Lisa nodded to herself. There was a girl crumpled against the tree nearby. Lisa had mistaken her for a distraught visitor to one of the other graves, but her power hadn't missed the cues.

The redhead's knees were pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. She was staring with laser focus at Taylor's gravestone. Not so much the hole in the ground as the gravestone itself. The tear tracks down her cheeks and the wet spots on the ground to either side of her gave a clear impression of just how long she had been sitting in that spot. Lisa's eyes narrowed. Taylor had given the distinct impression of not having any friends who would be that distraught over her 'death'. Who the fuck was this girl?

"Hey," Lisa said, coming to a halt next to the crier and bending down. "Sorry to disturb you, but I came here to say goodbye to a friend. Do you know what's going on over there?"

"Someone-someone stole her," the girl gasped. "Who would _do_ that? _Why_?! It wasn't bad enough, everything that we did to her? It wasn't bad enough that I _killed_ her? Why, why can't she have peace even when she's _dead_?!"

_Responsible for locker event. Not ringleader. Still responsible. Knows she's responsible. Knows it was too far. Accepted the idea anyway._

Lisa barely managed to keep the first five things she wanted to say from spilling from her lips. "Don't be the bull," she whispered to herself even while clenching her fists hard enough that her nails drew a bit of blood from her palms.

"Generally if someone killed a teenager they'd be behind bars pretty fast. I haven't been here too long, but Brockton Bay doesn't seem _that_ far gone that if you'd confessed they'd have let you walk. Why do you think you killed her?"

"I did it. I killed her. I killed my best friend," the redhead sobbed. Her head dropped onto her legs and her hands left her knees to snake through her hair. "She was supposed to fight back. She was supposed to show Sophia that she was _strong_. I _knew_ she was strong! Her mother died and she _just kept_ _going_. Why didn't she _fight_?! Why didn't she push back? Just once, just once and I could've proven to Sophia that she was strong like me! I could've _stopped_! I could've told her everything if she just fought back!"

_Sophia was the ringleader. Sadist. Twisted redhead into a follower for gratification and self-justification. Redhead has trauma that left her vulnerable. Redhead is Betrayer._

"Not everyone fights in the same way." Lisa rubbed at her temples. God her head was starting to hurt. She needed to be more careful with her power. It wasn't even 10 o'clock yet.

"I thought she would fight back if I let Sophia put her in there. She said she'd let her out…I didn't know Taylor was still in there. I didn't know. I didn't know. I killed my best friend. I killed her! I'm never going to get to tell her anything. I'm never going to be able to _explain_! I killed my best friend…" She trailed off into sobs again.

_Loved Taylor. Trauma prevented expressing it. Needed to show that Taylor was strong to be able to justify putting herself below Taylor even in a relationship. Needed to be strong. Sadist instilled 'strong vs. weak' mentality. No home support for trauma. Trauma left her vulnerable._

"Should've just cut her loose, this is more fucked up than I thought," Lisa mumbled. The pain was spiking again and she wasn't even getting anything useful. Any idiot could see that the redhead was fucked up. Any idiot except her family apparently.

"I killed Uncle Danny too," the girl wailed. "No one even _cares_!"

 _Fuuuck!_ There went her last hope for a happy ending. "Uncle Danny?"

"Taylor kept notes. It should've been enough to get us what we deserved. But the police said it was hearsay. They said that someone needed to back them up. No one spoke up. I tried to tell them the truth, but they said that they couldn't trust anything I said so soon after she died. They didn't _listen_. I tried telling the PRT and then the police just _stopped_! They wouldn't even see me anymore! They said it wasn't their _jurisdiction_!"

_Sophia is a cape. PRT took over when proof was found of wrongdoing. Sophia is either Shadow Stalker or Rune. No other teenage female cape would be in high school with redhead. Media blackout implies Wards, yet Wards attend Arcadia which implies Rune._

"Danny," Lisa prompted. She hissed at the lance of pain in her skull. She'd have to rely on her own abilities for the rest of this conversation or she might not be able to get back home. Especially if her power was going to start circling itself with this Sophia bitch's identity. She didn't have enough information to figure that out. Her lips curved into a silent snarl. Fucking useless police. Fucking useless PRT. Whether the sadist was a Ward or a gang member didn't particularly matter; she was still being shielded by the PRT. Bastards. No one else was going to get punished for this because then they'd have to reveal the bitch being at the center of it.

"He was angry. He came to yell at me. Daddy stopped him…Daddy should've let Uncle Danny have me. It's what I deserved."

_Came to kill her. Father killed him. Father is 'detained Divorce Lawyer in relation to secondary death' from research. Father well connected. Father not well enough connected. Father will be made example of by PRT as proxy._

Lisa screwed her eyes shut and breathed deeply long enough for the spike of pain to pass. The redhead just kept crying next to her while she recovered. Fucking power.

"Do you know if she had anyone else?"

"No one came to the funeral. Just the people her father worked with, me, and Madison. You…you weren't there. If you were her friend why weren't you there?" the redhead finally lifted her head from her knees, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Lisa.

Lisa just shook her head, trying to ignore the way the world swam a bit at the motion. "I'm not a big crowds person. That's why I'm here now. We didn't know each other for long. I helped her out with a few things at the library. Just wanted to pay my respects by my lonesome. Looks like I'll have to come back, considering this hubbub."

The redhead turned to stare at the grave marker again and another sob escaped her. "I wish…I wish I could tell her how _sorry_ I am. I can't even do that anymore because some _sick fuck_ stole her. She's never going to have any peace and it's _my fault_. I'm so, so, sorry Taylor. _I'm sorry_."

Lisa stood, laying one hand on the tree to keep her balance as her headache tried to beat her to death. "What's your name?"

"Emma."

"Emma, I'll make sure Taylor finds out that you're sorry. One day. Somehow. In the meantime, you need to promise me something."

Her head snapped up and her arms fell to the ground. " _Anything_!"

"Keep away from whoever this Sophia character is. She's…poisoned you. If you're not already over the edge she's going to push you over it the next time you see her. Stay away. Stay away and I'll get a message to Taylor."

Emma stared, eyes wide. "You can get a message to her? How? Who are you?"

"Just a friend of the girl you betrayed. She saved me. Now I'm driving myself into a corner to help what's left of her. Remember, stay the fuck away from Sophia."

Emma's breathing stopped entirely as all of her focus narrowed down to Lisa, and only Lisa. Behemoth himself could be attacking the cemetery and this girl wouldn't care. Lisa winced; she'd said too much. "She's alive. She's _alive_?"

Sighing, Lisa shook her head. "Something like that. Go home, Emma." Lisa turned on her heel and strode away from the scene before Emma could react. The small crowd was still by Taylor's empty grave, taking pictures and measurements, it looked like. Lisa didn't pay them any further mind. She just walked out of the cemetery, heading back to the bus.

She had a vampire to look after.


	3. Walk 03

**Walk 03**

From one moment to another, it was like a switch was thrown. I was sleeping, then I was…not. The world surged to life around me, a thousand noises assaulting my ears, a thousand touches roaming over my body, a thousand tastes dancing to life on my tongue, yet worst of all were the _smells_. I gasped, choking out a sob as the scent of bleach burned my nose, offset by pine cleaning solution, both drowned out through the orange of the dishwasher soap, the strawberry wafting off of my own hair, the disgusting odor of someone laying in garbage, oils from cars, wet dog…and some lingering scent in the air that was indescribably delicious and was making my mouth water.

"Taylor? Are you okay?"

I whimpered at the shout assaulting my ears. "Loud!"

"What? But I'm not - oh. Crap, heightened senses. Okay, um give me a second, I think I have ear muffs around here somewhere." It sounded like a tiger was loose in the apartment as she pulled things out of drawers and set them to the side. Finally, the noise quelled and the girl came back. She gently pulled my hands away from my ears and laid a set of fluffy ear muffs over them instead.

The fuzz sent shivers down my spine and her touch nearly burned with the heat in her hands. At least the world around me quieted to a dull shout instead of overpowering roars. And whatever the hell had happened to my nose, I was finally getting the different scents sorted out and pushing the unimportant ones to the side. All except for that minty syrup one which was _really_ hard to totally ignore.

"Better?"

I opened my eyes, wincing at the spear of light into them. My eyes adjusted faster than the rest of my senses though, and after only a few seconds I was able to mostly see without squinting. I carefully nodded, and pushed myself up to a sitting position in the…where the hell was this? Where was I? Who was the blonde girl sitting on the bed in front of me?

Why couldn't I remember my name?

My eyes widened and my breathing increased its pace until I was just gasping. The girl reached over and took my hands in hers squeezing tight. "Hey, hey calm down. It's okay, you're safe here. What did you just start reacting to? Maybe I can help. I need something to start with."

"I - " I cut off as the itching in my throat increased to hot needles as my voice creeped out. Wincing, I shook my head and held a hand to my throat. The blonde grimaced and stood up.

"Okay, well, let's try water first. I'm…not particularly expecting it to work, but, better to try." She smiled and was gone a moment later. I looked around the room, trying to ignore how I could hear the faucet turning on and off again. I shouldn't be hearing this good. The silk of the sheets shouldn't be _this_ soft.

And why could I not get that mint smell out of my mind?!

The girl came back into the room and the scent increased with her presence. I pushed down the ache in my mouth from it and just took the glass of water from her. Upending it, the itch diminished slightly. Not enough. Not enough at all.

"Damn, I was afraid of that." The blonde sat back on the bed with a sigh. "Okay, look, first off do you remember my name? From last night?"

My eyes narrowed as I tried to think back. There was…an alley…and then a clinic…and something about a shower. She had helped me in the shower. My eyes widened and I could feel my face heat up as that image flashed through my head.

She chuckled. "Okay so you remember some of it at least. I'm Lisa. It's a pleasure to meet you, now that you're more lucid. So I think I know how to fix your throat. But I need you to promise me that you're going to be careful. Because I can't go and raid another clinic for you and I don't have any pets to experiment on. I was planning on coming back with a rat and a cat to try this with, but my head was _killing_ me so I kinda…forgot."

I frowned. She sighed again. "You have no idea what is going on do you?" She held her hand out to me and my eyes focused on her wrist. There was a vein pulsing there. I couldn't tear my eyes away from that vein…

"You need to be able to talk, and you need to stay lucid. I can't hide a vampire in my apartment if you're going to freak out and eat the neighbors because I forgot to bring home a rabbit. So I'm going to play blood bag for you for a minute or two. And then we're going to talk. Okay?"

Her pulse had increased. I could see it as the blood flowed faster through that vein.

"I really hope this doesn't hurt…"

I reached out a tentative hand and touched her wrist. The blood pulsed even faster.

" _Please_ don't let this hurt…"

My mouth _ached_. I lifted her wrist to my mouth and without even thinking, I bit down. A sharp gasp was all that I could hear before the minty syrup smell took over the entirety of my being when it flared to live in my mouth. I swallowed, the taste of mint of my tongue and warmth cascading down my throat. My eyes slid shut as I groaned. The warmth and _life_ flowed into me as I sucked at the wrist through my…fangs. I had fangs. My fangs that had pierced the blonde's - _Lisa_ 's - wrist. And drawn blood. I was drinking blood.

 _I was drinking blood_!

Gasping, I released Lisa's hand and slammed my skull into the headboard and I pushed back from her. The wood rattled and a dull ache sprung into being in my head, though it thankfully died to a bare memory within moments. My eyes wide, I stared at Lisa as she examined her wrist, moving it around to see it from several angles.

"You know, I had expected that to hurt. It really didn't. At all. Not once you pierced the skin. It's gotta be something in your saliva. Not quite a numbing agent, it actually felt _good_ so…maybe a type of liquid pheromone? Or some sort of addictive agent? Weird. That's a hell of a useful side power there."

_Mild sedative and euphoric agents present in saliva._

Okay, so I had magic spit. Great. I grimaced. At least the minty scent - of her _blood_ \- was diminishing. It was still present, but not overpowering anymore.

Wait…how did I know I had magic spit?

"Healing agent too. The cuts are already closed. Actually, that's kinda neat. And not at all terrifying, nope."

 _Healing and euphoria reduce probability of victims reporting feeding_.

What the fuck?! Okay, ignore the whispers in your head. Phantom voices were never a good sign.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was going to do that," I mumbled.

"Oh good you did get enough to feel better. So hi, I'm Lisa. Do you remember your name now?"

I stared at her, my mouth hanging slightly open. "I just _drank your blood_! You're not going to freak out or run away or yell at me?"

"Well I pretty much knew that your powers made you into a vampire, so…no?"

"Uh…okay…What?"

She shrugged. "You basically saved me from a fate worse than death when you were barely able to string two words together and you didn't attack me at all while you were _starving_. So I figure it wasn't too much of a stretch that you would be able to hold yourself back right now that you've had a bit of a rest. Feeling better?"

_Took you home for self preservation and to assuage feelings of guilt._

"A little," I paused and took stock. Yeah, most of the minor aches and pains that I had felt as I woke were already gone. But…"I don't remember much. I'm sorry, you told me your name, but I have no idea what mine is…"

Her eyes shut and she shook her head. She reached out for my hand. I started to flinch away, but she was quick and she grabbed a hold of me, squeezing my hands. "That's okay. I was able to track down enough about you to find out your name. And…a few more things. Your name is Taylor Hebert. I'm really sorry to be the one to tell you this Taylor, but your parents are…dead."

"Taylor," I whispered, testing the name out. It felt…right somehow. Then the rest of what Lisa had said registered. "My family is dead?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry." She squeezed me harder and her eyes dropped to the bedspread. "Your mother died a few years back. Your dad was…about two days ago."

"Two days? I…I don't remember. I should…remember that…"

Lisa bit her tongue, shaking her head.

 _You did not have a chance to discover Father's death. You were resting in the grave beside him_.

"I was _dead_ two days ago?! What the fuck?! What the fuck is _going_ _on_?!"

Lisa's head snapped up and her eyes narrowed as she searched mine. Then she gasped and shifted closer to me. "Holy shit! You took part of my power when you drank my blood! That's why my headache is almost gone and the whispers are quiet! Fucking hell, girl, that's _awesome_! And terrifying, but mostly awesome. Normally I need a few days to get used to terrifying, but damn. I have a vampire who can drain powers too!"

I frowned. "Isn't that a bad thing?"

Lisa shrugged. "Honestly, I'm just happy that if I have to donate blood again then I can have some measure of peace and quiet, my power can be very frustrating sometimes. But you're right, we should probably try to keep the power drain thing quiet. Most people don't really like Trumps much. It's still better than a Master power though. That said, the drinking living blood thing is probably going to be more trouble for everyone. We're going to have to be careful."

I swallowed hard as I stared at her. "You're a cape?" She nodded. "And…I'm one too?"

"Either that or you're some sorta weird genetic throwback species no one has ever heard of in the modern day. Either way, it doesn't really matter. You have powers now. Woohoo, congrats," she said, the emotion draining out of her voice as she finished.

She was definitely not selling me on the glory of cape abilities, that was for sure.

"Welcome to the world of getting fucked over no matter what you try and do. Join the Wards? Life of being paraded around like an ornament, never doing anything of note, never thinking for yourself, still in the line of fire if the shit hits the fan, but with little experience on how to _survive_. Join the Rogues? Welcome to just barely scraping by as the government tries to prevent you from making money any way possible so that you _have_ to join their groups. Go full Villain? Welcome to a life of constantly trying to avoid pissing off the wrong people while hoping you have enough followers to break you out of jail when the Heroes inevitably catch you at some point. Being a cape sucks."

_Used to adore powers. Used to adore the superiority inherent. Events of previous night have soured the experience._

"Yeah, I got that much." I shook my head and grimaced. "Can we go back to me being dead please?"

"I think your power took a while to fully heal you from your trigger. They thought you had died in the locker and - "

Locker. Dark. Bugs. Laughing. Pain. Everything hurt. Screaming. _Sophia_!

My lips pulled back from my teeth and I could feel my fangs descending as I snarled. "That fucking _bitch_ killed me!"

Lisa shifted her grip to my arms and squeezed hard enough that I knew it _should_ hurt. "Please calm down. I'm not fully sure what's happened to that girl but we can find out. Just…you're scaring me a bit, Taylor."

I squeezed my eyes shut and took several deep breaths, willing my fangs to recede. I didn't know how long it took, but finally, I was able to open my eyes and nod for Lisa to continue. She swallowed, but kept talking. "So from what I've been able to figure out, it looks like you were declared dead when Em-when they found you. I don't really know whether you're still technically dead, or undead, or 'frozen' like Alexandria supposedly is. But what I do know is that you have a hell of a healing factor. It was just slow when they first got you because it had a lot to fix and you hadn't, uh, fed yet."

"I needed blood."

"Yeah. So it worked, just really slow. They uh, buried you. That's happened before actually…People have been buried or cremated when they had healing powers that would save them. Every major mortuary is supposed to have Lazarus tables to stop that shit, but…"

"This is Brockton Bay and if something can go wrong, it _does_ ," I growled. "I don't even remember my name or my father, but I can remember that this town hates everyone in it."

"Amnesia is weird that way." Lisa sighed. "Do you want to know what happened to your dad?"

I scowled. "Yes."

"He tried to attack someone that he thought was responsible for your death. I think she sorta was, but she never intended it to go as far as it did. I actually ran into her during the day. She's not really in a good place. Anyway, the point is, he tried to attack her and her father took offense to that. The guy killed your dad. If it's any comfort he's in really hot water for it. And I'm…fairly certain that your dad was not intending to live out that night anyway. One way or the other."

I could feel my nails lengthening and my fangs ached. I shut my eyes and concentrated on my breathing. The same breathing that did absolutely nothing for me.

_Breathing is optional. Metabolism slowed. Regular blood transfusions maintain bodily functions._

I nodded. "Okay. So he didn't take my death well and I can't get revenge. So what _can_ I do?"

Lisa finally let my hands go and she smiled at me. "Well, that's what we need to figure out. You up for a bit of experimenting?"

I let my fangs descend as I returned her grin. "Lead the way."

* * *


	4. Walk 04

**Walk 04**

"No. No, this is _gross_. I can't drink this."

Lisa frowned as she looked between me and the blood bag. "I don't get it. You were able to drink some of this the other night. I mean it wasn't ideal, but you could still use it for sustenance."

"Well it tastes like charcoal. Maybe it's doing something for me, but it's…I don't know. It's like it's dead or something."

Lisa sighed. "Well, it is a blood bag. So if you want to get technical, it's not living blood. Or at least not blood directly from a living critter. Man, there goes the easy option. I was hoping that 'not ideal' wouldn't be 'almost entirely unsuitable', but hey, we work with the hand we're dealt. Onto the small furry animals!"

"Wait, what?" I asked, my eyes widening and my nostrils flaring. Now that she mentioned it…I could detect a whiff of…fur and…fear in the air. I blinked. "I can smell fear?"

"You can - of course you can. Bullshit powers are bullshit." Lisa grunted and lifted a small carrier cage onto the kitchen counter. There was a partition in the middle separating it into two section. Inside was a rabbit on one portion and a large white rat on the other.

"I'm not killing a bunny." My mind rebelled and I took a step back even as my hands spasmed and lifted towards the cage on their own accord. I glared at my hands and dropped them back to my sides.

"Let's start with the rat," Lisa said gently. She opened the carrier and reached in to pull out the rat, leaving the rabbit secure.

The rat took one look at me and clung to Lisa's hand. I felt my fangs itch as I stared at it. "People have rats as pets as well."

"True. But I tried to get the ugliest one of the bunch. And, to be perfectly honest here, Taylor, while I would love to play mobile blood bag for you every once in a while if it gets rid of my power for a bit, it's not realistic. We both know I can't do that enough to sustain you; not if you can't eat regular food. I'm petite. I don't have enough blood in me. And I don't want to fully give up my power to you; just saying. A bit of peace and quiet is one thing, full on normality? No thanks."

I grimaced. "Well you'd be living with a vampire cape, 'normal' is out the question even if you didn't have powers." Shutting my eyes and trying - and failing - to suppress my groan, I reached out. "Fine. I'll try the rat. I'm sorry little guy." Even as my hand closed over it.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, you don't mind that I'm staying here for now do you?"

Lisa rolled her eyes and playfully slapped my shoulder. "Sweetie, you're like a live-in bodyguard, friend, and pet project all rolled into; no, I don't mind you crashing in my pad. Now stop stalling and eat the lab rat."

"I hate you," I muttered. She had the nerve to chuckle at my consternation. Taking a deep breath, I could _feel_ my fangs itch as the blood pumping beneath the skin of the small creature roared. It pulsed against my fingers, it raged against my ears, the heat was like a furnace in my hands, and I could even see the small pumping movements through my dilated eyes.

Leaning down, my teeth touched the back of its neck and the rat stilled in my hands. Warmth surged into my mouth. Shuddering, I gulped it down. This was nothing like the minty scent or the syrupy nirvana that Lisa's blood had been. This was…dull. There was life there, and satisfaction; but it was dim. It was _leagues_ better than the blood bag, but this wasn't bliss.

Pulling back, I set the still rat onto a paper towel and quickly stepped away from the counter. Wiping my arm across my lips I tried to ignore how things were suddenly ever so slightly _brighter_ and _sharper_. How the sounds around the apartment were so much _clearer_ and _louder_.

How I felt more _alive_.

"Oh that definitely helped."

I nodded, looking everywhere but at the still rat. "Yeah. It wasn't as, um, flavorful as yours and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be hungry again a lot sooner, but yeah, that does work."

"Okay, so we don't _need_ to prey on the homeless or the Nazis. Good to know!" Lisa crooned, her grin disturbingly fox-like as I snapped my head around to stare at her.

"What?!"

"Well it wasn't Plan A, Taylor, but it was like…Plan D."

" _What_?!" My eyes widened enough that any further and they would probably be falling out of my skull.

"Blood bags, bunnies," she said ticking off her fingers. "A harem of Renfields, homeless and Nazis! See, definitely bottom of the list."

"You are a horrible person," I whispered, my hands covering my mouth.

She laughed and slung an arm around my shoulders. "And yet I took home a vampire. Seriously, Taylor, I'm just trying to look out for you here. If you couldn't feed off of animals, you would've needed people. Willing donors would probably be hard to find outside one or two broken people." She gestured to herself. "And weirdos off the internet would need to be vetted first. So our options would have been limited. Acceptable targets is really the only decent stop gap solution to keep you alive in a worst-case scenario."

I moved my hands to my eyes and whimpered. "I don't want to eat people to live, Lisa."

"Hey, hey, it's okay, sweetie." She squeezed my shoulders and ruffled my hair. "You didn't hurt me when you drank my blood and we just figured out that animals are good to go. You'll be fine, Taylor. I promise."

I sniffled, leaning into her and letting her keep stroking my back while I breathed in her scent.

The minty smell of her blood was just so…relaxing…

* * *

I swallowed, my hand shaking and shivers running up and down my back. I couldn't look away from the shaft of light streaming into the room from the window. It was too close. Too close, too hot, too close, too bright, too _close_.

"This is a bad idea, Lisa."

"We have to know, Taylor," she murmured, her steady hand on my arm felt like a vice. "Come on, just a few seconds."

"Everything in me is saying that this is going to hurt."

"I'm right here, sweetie."

"Please," I whispered.

"Taylor." Lisa stepped in front of me, standing between me and the ray of sunlight. I breathed out, letting my eyes slide shut for a moment and my shaking stilled. She covered my hand in both of hers and she gripped me tight. I opened my eyes again and she was holding my gaze, a small sheen over her green orbs. "If you don't want to do this, I'm not going to force you. But, Taylor, we really need to know how dangerous going out into the daylight is for you. You hit most of the vampire tropes: you're mildly allergic to garlic, you need blood regularly, you're pale as hell, you're more or less undead, you don't show up in silver mirrors…about the only classic thing that doesn't affect you is running water."

"So sunlight is going to be _bad_. Let's skip it and call it done." I kept my focus on her. I refused to look past her to the light. I wouldn't look at that brightness. I wouldn't.

"Tay, we _need_ to know. There's a huge continuum here. Maybe you'll only have a few issues, a bit of loss of power like with the original Dracula. That wouldn't be so bad at all would it?" She waited for me to shake my head before she continued. "And on the opposite end, maybe there's things like your hand bursting into flame. That's important information if that happens and a _very big_ safety tip to watch out for. That's why I have the fire extinguisher here, just in case." I nodded again, still not looking away from her eyes. "And right in the middle we have things like really bad sunburn, but sunburn can be blocked with strong suntan lotion."

"I'm scared, Lisa," I whispered.

"I know, sweetie, I know."

"Promise me that you won't run away - no matter what happens?"

"I promise."

I clenched my jaw and jerked my head. "Okay. Okay, let's-let's try."

Lisa smiled at me and moved her palms up to my bicep. "Remember, Taylor, don't panic. I'm _right here_."

I nodded. Then breathing in her minty scent, I stepped forward, pushing my hand into the light.

And everything devolved into pain.


	5. Interlude 1-E

**Interlude 1 - E**

Emma clicked through yet another article, biting back a scream as it was only another dead end. The only reason she didn't throw the stupid mouse was because she wasn't sure if her parents would buy her a new one. After the last two had been…broken, they were starting to ask questions.

Maybe she shouldn't have burned bridges with Shadow Stalker quite so quickly. At the time it had been more important to get justice for Taylor and Uncle Danny. She had _needed_ to make certain that Sophia didn't get away with twisting the truth. That they _both_ got what they deserved. She had wanted to take Madison down too, but all Madison had really done was petty shit with schoolwork and some snide comments. They hadn't gotten her involved with…with…

And Madison had backed her up with evidence against Sophia and Emma herself too. Madison had helped when push came to shove. She'd needed Madison once everyone started backing off and calling Taylor's notes hearsay. She'd _needed_ that third party confirmation. Madison had come through. Everything fell into place fast once Emma made sure the two of them were heard. As soon as she mentioned the media, the police and the PRT got things _done_. It still wasn't public but at least Sophia was getting exactly what she deserved.

Except when it had come time for _Emma_ to get what she deserved they…had refused. The fuckers claimed that she wasn't _healthy_. That she had been preyed on. That she needed _help_.

Emma knew the truth. She had killed her best friend. She had killed her best friend and needed to _suffer_. Even worse, her fucking father had killed Uncle Danny when he came to make sure she got what she deserved.

At least she'd managed to make sure he couldn't walk away from that clean.

But…Taylor wasn't dead. Not really. Emma wasn't sure what had happened, but she was _sure_ that Taylor was alive now. Between the blonde in the graveyard, the grave itself, and now the PRT, she _knew_ that Taylor was out there. She just needed to find her.

She tried another report and ground her teeth. All of these were redacted! Damn Sophia! Damn her low level access! Or…had they already taken off her access codes? No, then Emma would never have been able to login anyway. Or someone would have come and arrested her already. The codes were fine. Sophia was just a useless bitch who had trumped herself up as more important than she really was.

"God how had I had been so stupid?!" Emma moaned slumping onto the desk as the report wavered in front of her eyes. There was a glistening on the screen. No, wait, that was just from her eyes. Emma wiped at them and sniffled.

She barely heard the door click in time to jerk upright and swipe at the screen, minimizing the report. She swiveled the chair around, her default glare melting into a wide-eyed stare as she met the gaze of the blonde from the graveyard.

The _blonde_ from the _graveyard_.

The _blonde_ who _knew where Taylor was_!

The world shifted and the next thing Emma understood was that she was somehow clutching the girl's shirt. How and when she had moved, she didn't know. It didn't matter. This girl knew where Taylor was. This girl _knew_ where _Taylor_ was. This girl _knew where_ -

"We met a few years back. I moved to the West Coast, we didn't think we'd ever see each other again. I'm glad I ran into Emma earlier."

The blonde was talking. Who was she talking to? Emma peeked around the girl's side. Oh, her mother. The girl was getting rid of her mother. Good. That was good. Emma had no ready excuse. She couldn't think of anything.

There was a time when she had been good at this.

A time before she had killed her best friend.

"I'll just leave you both alone then."

The door clicked shut, and the blonde's hands were immediately on Emma's prying Emma off of her. Emma looked up again, the girl's face might as well have been a mask. Emma was good with masks. She could read it. She could see the tightly clenched jaw, the slight dip in the eyebrow, the twitch in the cheekbone. The girl was seconds from 'throttling a bitch' as Sophia had so delicately put it.

Emma crumpled all over again, a fresh sheen crossing her vision as the strength drained from her grip on the girl's waist and she let herself be tossed to her bed.

"Don't fucking touch me. You don't have that right. I get that you're having a mental breakdown. A _second_ or no, maybe a _third_ mental breakdown, fuck, just how screwed up _are_ you?"

"Don't _say_ that," Emma hissed, her head snapping up as she bared her teeth at the other girl. Just like Sophia had said, predators bared their teeth at - Emma clenched her fists and wrapped her arms around herself making sure that her lips covered her fluorescent smile. That bright smile that her _father_ had paid so much for. Paid for in _blood_. "Please don't say that I'm messed up. I…I can't find her if they send me away. They should have. But they didn't. And now that they didn't…I have to find her. I have to…I have to…"

Emma heard the blonde taking several deep breaths before she spoke again. "Okay, look, don't touch me. You fucking _killed_ Taylor. You and that psycho bitch. I've done my research, I have a pretty clear idea of what happened. As far as I'm concerned, you can rot in this hell you've built for yourself. But I don't have that option anymore. You want to find Taylor? Congratu-fucking-lations. Today is your lucky day."

Emma's eyes widened enough that she felt like they would fall out of her head as she stared. "What?"

"She's hurt. I can't help her by myself. I need…another person to help me out. Are you willing to start trying to atone?"

Emma's head might as well have been a bobblehead.

"Good. Okay. When I did this originally I was a bit faint for maybe, five minutes. She's going to need more this time though, so expect to be gone most of the day, maybe into tomorrow. Pack a bag. _Fast_. I already told your mother that you're probably sleeping over."

Emma leaped off of the bed. The door of her closet nearly slammed into the wall with how fast she grabbed her bag out of it and stood in front of the blonde. The girl looked her over with a frown.

"Why the hell do you have a bug-out bag?"

"I…I wanted to be ready in case I found her…None of Shadow Stalker's credentials were turning up anything in the official reports though…The PRT knows that something happened. They think she triggered. But they don't know where she is or if they do, they have it redacted…Shadow Stalker doesn't have the access to see anything detailed…I was losing hope…"

The blonde blinked and leaned over so that she could see around Emma to peer at the computer. A vulpine grin slowly spread over her face. "Holy shit, Red. You just suddenly became a whole lot more valuable. And congrats, my estimation of your desperation, dedication, loyalty, and sheer bugfuck insanity all just shot _massively_ up. You know the codes by heart?"

Emma nodded.

"Great. Mind if I nuke your laptop so that they can't discover you using them from an unsecure computer before we can make sure those codes _stay_ secure?"

Emma shook her head.

"Awesome. Give me one minute, then we leave."

Emma shuffled her feet as the girl sat down in front of Emma's computer pulling up a few different screens. "If Taylor is hurt, shouldn't be going to her right now?"

"She's not dying, so she can wait one more minute for me to make sure that we can keep her safer. We want to make sure that we stay ahead of the PRT until we know for sure if we are going to go to them for help or not. Knowing what they know is half the battle."

"But she didn't have high access…"

"If I can get into the system I can escalate privileges easily enough, half the battle is simply getting in. They have exceedingly strong firewalls and access controls. But you can't really protect a system from the inside without absolutely crippling it. And after a few scares, now no one can touch their internal systems except specific contractors. Government contractors take forever to upgrade things so they work on outdated software. All of their security is built on keeping someone _out_ , but once that person gets _in_ , if they know what they are doing and are careful, they can get away with a lot of decent information. Nothing truly major or what the PRT would consider damaging, that sort of stuff is air gapped, or on hard copies only, but with a good Thinker…well, you can do _a lot_ with disparate low-level information."

Most of that had gone so far over Emma's head that it might as well have been Chinese. Not that it mattered. The computer flashed to black and the blonde stood, still smirking. "Alright, time to go. I'm Lisa by the way, in case your mom asks."

Emma could only nod and follow behind Lisa as the other girl led the way out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the house.

She was going to Taylor. She was going to Taylor. She was going to Taylor.

* * *

The door to the apartment slammed shut and Emma heard a squeak from a cage on the island in the kitchen, a white rabbit running into the corner of the cage.

"Oh, Taylor, why didn't you eat the damn bunny…" Lisa muttered.

Emma's eyes widened, but she resolved not to ask. Taylor was here. That was all that mattered. She started to move towards the rooms at the end of the short hallway to the left, but Lisa's arm clutched her shoulder, stopping her in place. "Not yet. Let me go first. Do, not, run to her. Okay? Look at me, bitch. Verbal confirmation is required. Do. Not. Run. To. Her. Got it?"

"I got it," Emma snarled. "Can we please see her now?"

"Yeah. Follow me." Lisa stepped around her, being careful to position herself so that Emma couldn't push around her in the small apartment. Emma nearly growled, then had to remind herself that that was something Sophia would have done and settled instead for breathing deeply through her nose out through her mouth. The air smelled faintly acrid, like…something had burnt?

Lisa knocked on the door at the end of the hall. "Taylor? Sweetie? I'm back. I brought our Renfield. We're coming in okay?"

It was dark inside the room. Almost too dark to see, but not too dark for Emma to make out the shape huddled on the bed. Curly, black hair cascaded down her back and the yellow shirt clung to her like it was a size too small. Her left arm was clutched to her chest, and her head was down, chin against her chest, breaths coming in short, sharp gasps.

"Is it any better, sweetie?"

Taylor's head shook. Emma heard what sounded like a snake's hiss, and she glanced around before her eyes snapped back to Taylor realizing that her best friend had been the one to make the noise. Taylor clutched her arm tighter.

"I couldn't do it. It was…I named it…I couldn't hurt Bunnicula. It smelled so good, but I couldn't hurt it…I…Lisa you should leave."

Lisa's hand clenched into a fist. Emma started to move forward, but she ran into Lisa's extended arm, pushing her back. " _Stay_ ," the blonde spat. Turning back to Taylor, she stepped forward and knelt by the edge of the bed, wrapping her small hands around the brunette's uninjured arm. Taylor started to pull back, and Lisa just moved with her.

Emma couldn't move. She could barely breathe. That should have been her. She should have been the one at Taylor's side. Except she had messed it up. She had done this. She had destroyed everything. She had taken everything they had for over a decade and thrown it away. She had no right to be there anymore. She had no right to be in this _room_.

"Taylor, look at me. Taylor, please. Taylor, _please_ , look at me." The curtain of hair around Taylor's head slowly shifted and Emma caught sight of her brilliant hazel eyes. Had they always been so…deep? Emma breathed faster as she stared. Her legs shifted and she rubbed at her arms. Then Taylor's gaze shifted and Emma sucked down a deep breath again.

"Fuck," she whispered.

Lisa twisted her head to glare at her. "Yeah, that happens. Don't meet her eyes when she's hungry. Sorry." Lisa didn't sound sorry.

"Lisa, you should _go_. You smell - "

" _Reassuring_ ," Lisa said, cutting Taylor off. Taylor blinked. Lisa squeezed her arm and moved up onto the bed. "Sweetie, my power doesn't tell me that you are seconds away from tearing my throat out. It's saying that every time you smell my blood, you get calmer and more relaxed. You're not holding yourself back by a thread. You need to feed, yeah, but you're not a mindless animal. Okay?"

"But…I…"

"You didn't eat Bunnicula, right?" Taylor shook her head. "If you can resist eating a fucking _bunny_ , I don't think you're going to have any issues stopping yourself from eating your friend, Taylor."

Taylor swallowed, her tongue flicking out and licking her lips. No. _Not_ her lips…fangs…Taylor had fangs. Emma's hand went to her mouth. "I did this…"

"Actually, _this_ I did," Lisa muttered. "And I fucking _hate_ that." She held out her arm towards Taylor, wrist up. "Drink, sweetie."

Taylor stared at Lisa's wrist, touching it with her free hand, her left one still not moving from her chest. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. It actually felt pretty good last time."

"But I'm _so hungry_ now."

"More than the first night we met? When you could barely speak and didn't even know your own name?"

Taylor blinked. She opened her mouth and Emma stared at the two large fangs until Taylor closed it again. A soft, desperate laugh escaped the girl. "Okay. Maybe not."

"If you're scared," Lisa sighed, and shifted again. "Let me see your hand, sweetie?"

Taylor whimpered. She slowly lifted her left hand from her chest. Emma gasped as she finally got a good look at it. It was nearly entirely blackened from the tips of the fingers down through half the palm. The black stopped there, but the rest of her palm was an angry, cracked red, as if her hand was made of veined, cracked lava rock. At the wrist, that shifted again, lowering to a more normal burned appearance that traveled for a few inches up her arm. Finally, it faded fully into her pale skin.

"Taylor, you need to feed, or this isn't going to heal. It's barely gotten better at all since I left. You need blood. You were already running low before we experimented. Please, drink." Lisa held out her hand again.

Taylor closed her eyes and reached for Lisa's wrist with her uninjured arm. "Are you…are you _sure_?"

"I wouldn't be offering if I wasn't, Taylor."

The brunette just looked down, lowered her head, and closed her mouth over Lisa's wrist. Emma saw Taylor's throat flex an instant later as if she was swallowing something, and Lisa's other hand went to the back of Taylor's head. Taylor…was swallowing something wasn't she? She had fangs. Lisa had mentioned blood. Even as Emma watched, the redness on Taylor's arm was starting to shift back into the normal pale skin and the cracks in her black hand were changing into something more akin to what her arm had looked like a few moments before. Taylor was healing as she drank from Lisa's wrist.

Emma _had_ killed Taylor.

Taylor just hadn't _stayed_ dead.

"Okay, Tay, that's enough. Getting a bit faint here." Taylor immediately pulled back with a small gasp, pressing her uninjured hand over Lisa's wrist, even though it didn't seem necessary since it wasn't even bleeding. Emma hadn't even seen a puncture wound before Taylor had wrapped her hand around it.

"Oh god…" Emma's legs couldn't support her anymore. She crumpled to the floor, her gaze never leaving her best friend. She had turned her best friend into a _vampire_.

And she was going to sit here and let Taylor drain her dry if that was what it took to let her finish healing.

It was what Emma deserved after all.


	6. Adjustment 01

**Adjustment 01**

The water cascading down my back and pounding against my head was far more…relaxing than it had any right to be. It was like a thousand dollar masseuse was striking away all of the tension in my body, one droplet at a time. Each bead of water from the shower head was heaven against my shoulders and each rivulet that flowed through my hair took another one of my worries away with it.

"How could you have _done_ that to her!" Emma hissed. Her voice was low, barely audible even to my super-charged senses. I had taken so much blood from her. _I_ had never felt better; but _she_ was barely able to stay conscious by the time I had pulled back. I'd tried to apologize, but she had just smiled and said that she was glad to help.

Then she and Lisa had looked at my hand as the blackness slowly turned back to a pale pink. The way that Emma's stare had turned to Lisa and the dip in Lisa's own head. I may not remember exactly what my life had been like before, but I could read a room well enough. I had hoped that the shower would've drowned out their coming argument. Apparently, I wasn't so lucky.

"We _had to know_. Do you think I fucking _like_ that I hurt her?! She saved my life, bitch! I'm not you! I don't get off on torturing my _friends_."

I turned the water up hotter. Maybe if I could sink deeper into the bliss, I could ignore them.

"…I don't know what was wrong with me…"

"And you expect me to?" Lisa's retort was so biting I winced. She had been so helpful to me, she had even gone to get me a - a - she had even gone to get help when I had needed it, and she hadn't abandoned me when she could…or should have. I got why _I_ was supposed to hate Emma. Part of me did, even if I didn't quite understand why I pulled back from her when she reached out a hand towards me. But I didn't know why _Lisa_ hated her so much.

_Despises that she hurt you. Despises that she hurt someone she considers a friend. Despises that, had things continued, Emma would have driven you to suicide. Lisa cannot forgive that at this time. Lisa is also overreacting as she is pushing her own regret for injuring you onto Emma._

I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned back further into the pounding water. Damn, Lisa's power really _could_ be annoying and overwhelming. No wonder she disliked having it active at all times - and was willing to get a bit of a break.

"I just don't see why you had to try it that way. She's a vampire now right? Sunlight being bad is like, rule number one."

Lisa's angry growl would've been audible if I had been on the darn roof. "Of _course_ it's blindingly obvious that sunlight is bad, Red! We needed to know _how_ bad. We needed to know, so that if someone came after her during the daylight we'd know if we should be running or holing up until it was dark out. We needed to know if she can go out during a cloudy day, or if she needed to avoid all sunlight at all costs. What if the PRT tracked her down and we didn't know for sure, they didn't listen to us to be cautious, and they tried to take her outside? Huh? What then? What if they weren't prepared and she fucking _burst into flames_?! What then, Emma?! She'd have been _dead dead_! I…I _tried_. I just…I wanted to make sure that we were doing everything we could to protect her…"

I grit my teeth, my fangs aching.

 _Not enthralled. Wants to help. Latching onto_ Friend _. Has never had someone she considered worth protecting or caring about before. Trauma aided in initial connection. Continued connection is due to developing comradery._

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…You didn't do anything wrong. You weren't the one to stuff her in a locker filled with…horrible things. You didn't kill her. I did."

"I could have. I was a fucking idiot…"

"…What do we do now?"

"You have to stay here for a few hours at least. Maybe a day or two to get your strength back up. I don't know how long for sure. Once my power comes back up, I'll let you know a better time frame."

Emma was quiet for a moment before she responded. "I meant about Taylor. That was just a fairly small injury. What if she's hurt worse the next time. She's a cape now. I was…friends, with Shadow Stalker long enough to know that capes have to, at some point, fight _something_ eventually. The two of us may not be enough to heal her next time."

"I've got a few ideas," Lisa murmured. "Taylor didn't seem too interested in them, but if push comes to shove, I'm going to go through with it and damn the fucking consequences. Better for her to be annoyed and alive, rather than me being alone and her dead. Whatever that means for her now…I don't know."

"What sort of ideas? Can I help?"

"Unless you want to go and play bait for a Nazi, probably not, Red."

" _What_?"

Lisa sighed. "Basically I want to nab a low-life who no one will miss and feed them to our vampire. I've considered paying some homeless people like 50 bucks a pop to be mobile bloodbags on call, but I worry that they would talk or that word would get around. Maybe if I can find one or two trustworthy people, that would work, but even then, if we need a quick and dirty option, the Nazi gangbangers are better. I can hit up Charlotte, but I don't want to risk actually hurting her if we have to take things, you know, all the way."

"You want to hit the _E88_?! Are you _insane_?!"

Lisa snorted. "They're the only safe gang _to_ hit, Red."

"What about the fucking Merchants?! They're high as a kite half the time! That would be so much safer."

"Do you want to see if that shit transfers over to Taylor through the blood? What happens if it does and we have a cocaine addicted vampire on our hands all of a sudden because we wanted to go for the easy option?"

Emma squeaked. "Do you think that would happen?"

I could _hear_ Lisa's eye roll as she replied, "I think the chances are extremely low, but not non-existent. If we have other choices, well, I'm willing to hear them. So, with lack of better options Red, what have you got?

"I mean, what about the ABB?"

"I've only been in the city for a few weeks, but I can tell you that Lung watches out for his members. He pretends he doesn't and he tends to stay fairly backseat unless something rouses him, but if someone attacks his people he searches for them and he takes his 'reparations'. We need to watch out for Lung. I'm fairly certain that Taylor can take him out if she gets him before he ramps up, but outside of that…"

"If she misses or doesn't drain him in one shot she's on fire. Right?"

"Right. So we avoid the ABB. Kaiser's people on the other hand, well, as long as we don't go after Hookwolf's subgroup, we're golden. Kaiser doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about his rank and file. As long as we don't touch the capes and avoid going after too many of the grunts too fast, no one will care or even really notice. That's why I said we should go try the homeless groups too. I'd like to try and help them out first, and they'd be cheap to buy off, but if something bad happens in the worst case scenario…well, there wouldn't be too many people to miss them."

"…You're not a very nice person are you?"

"Didn't you betray and murder your 'best friend', Red?"

Both of them fell silent after that.

I shut the water off about five minutes later, finally admitting that I couldn't hide any longer. I needed to try to mediate between these two and figure out our next steps.

And I needed to figure out where the hell that delicious strawberry scent was coming from...…

* * *

By the time I got dressed and stepped into the main room of the apartment, Lisa was ensconced in a blanket on the couch with her laptop resting on her crossed legs. Emma was curled up in the armchair in the corner, her hands wrapped around a mug of steaming mulled cider.

I still felt a small shiver as I glanced in Emma's direction. So much of my past was still a blank, and yet I knew that I wasn't _supposed_ to like her. Despite that, my hand raised as if on its own volition and waved to her, a small smile ghosting across my lips. Emma's return smile wavered and didn't reach her watery eyes.

_Doesn't feel she deserves your forgiveness like this. Doesn't feel that you should be smiling to see her. Feels you should be screaming or hitting her or choking her. Didn't believe that you had amnesia. Now does. Doesn't want you to forgive her without having earned it._

I shook my head and rubbed at my temple. "How do you deal with this all day, Lisa?"

She glanced at me and winced. "If you push, err, sideways in your head, it sort of…suppresses the automatic responses. I'm sorry, sweetie. I wasn't really thinking of the implications of you feeding from me."

I shrugged in return. "It's fine, just weird and a bit annoying." I frowned as I looked around the small room. Lisa didn't really have much in the way of furniture beside her couch, armchair and little table. "Um…"

Lisa frowned, followed my eyes, then snorted. She shifted and threw her blanket open. "Sit down, Taylor. There's more than enough room for two under here. I can't turn up the heat too much. Not until we get a bit more flush at least."

I winced. "I'm sorry, if you're going to have to keep buying rats for me that's going to eat into your funds really fast."

"Nah, it's not that bad. We have Red here now to make up for money problems. Ain't that right, Red?"

"I'll help however you need, Taylor," Emma murmured. She took another drink of her cider not looking up from the cup. The scent of strawberries intensified momentarily, but I pushed it away.

"I still don't like being a freeloader."

Lisa shrugged, the blanket fell over my shoulders and she leaned against me, moving the computer so that we could both see the screen. "I've mostly just scammed credit cards and stolen from bank accounts for the past few months. I could go back to that in a week or so once I can figure out if Coil is definitely going to be leaving me alone or not. Or I can try to go more legit and branch out into some coding, general tech work, or even some PI stuff. Getting a PI license is ridiculously easy, ever since capes came about. With my brains and your muscle - theoretically at least - we'd make a good PI team."

Slowly, I nodded. "I'm more comfortable with that than with you stealing from people."

"It was only stupid rich people who were insured. Or assholes. I didn't discriminate too much with assholes."

"You're _really_ not a - "

"Watch it, Red," Lisa said. Her tone was jovial but the acid under her tongue was plain as day for the three of us to see. Emma winced and cut off.

I glanced between the two of them and dropped my head. "Why are neither of you freaking out? I _bit_ you! I _drank your blood_! I am a fucking _vampire_! How are you just sitting here and - how are you okay being this close to me?!"

Lisa started to say something but Emma cut her off with a quiet declaration. "I killed you, Taylor. This whole thing is my fault. You can do whatever you want to me and it doesn't matter. I deserve it and more. I know myself enough to admit that if you were a zombie I'd probably run away, but…vampires can be…cool. I guess. And I can help. Somehow."

I didn't have a chance to respond before Lisa started talking as well. "As for me, I don't know how much you actually remember from when we met Taylor - you were practically feral that night - but there were some mercs that were about to 'recruit' me. Thinkers, we don't do too well with that sort of job offer. At best I was looking at a pretty leash and a gun to my head. At worst I was looking at an ugly cell with enough drugs that I'd be lucky to know that the sky was blue and that grass was green."

"That still doesn't explain why you're not freaking out," I mumbled. "I helped you, but you don't have to let me…feed off of you."

"Taylor, sweetie, you have my power right now. Completely ignoring the fact that I do actually like some peace every now and then, you're a nice girl. I haven't known many nice girls. I want to help. It's the right thing to do and it might clear some of my books. Besides all of that…" Her voice got very, very soft, to the point that even with my stronger hearing I had to strain to catch her next words. "We both need a friend." She looked up, blinking away a bit of wetness in her eyes and grinning that vulpine smile. "Having a bodyguard is nice too you know. Thinkers are squishy."

Something told me that the 'friend' bit was the real reason that she wasn't running for the hills. My heart beat a little faster and I slowly nodded back, letting myself relax against her side.

" _Annyway_ , take a look, Tay! I used our dearly sociopathic Sophia's access and we're into the PRT main systems!"

Focusing in on the laptop, my eyes widened as I scanned down the page she had pulled up. "Holy crap."

"Yeah."

Emma bit her lip and after a few seconds asked, "What did they find?"

"Apparently, they think I'm a Breaker," I said. "And a…Striker? Really? Why do they think that?"

"Most straight regenerators get classified as a Breaker or a Changer, especially the resurrectors," Lisa said. "The Striker is because you broke out of your coffin and then the 6 feet of dirt above it. See they have it listed as Striker-Brute. They aren't sure which one since it could be either."

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. "That wasn't a dream?"

"No," Lisa murmured. Her hand clasping my arm was warm and reassuring. I breathed deep, taking in her minty scent and felt the tension in my muscles start to bleed away. "I'm sorry, Taylor, it wasn't. When I was cleaning you off the other night, there were wood chips and dirt caked into your hair and over your…funeral dress. It really happened."

A soft whimper came from Emma's direction. I found I didn't care all that much.

Shaking myself, I opened my eyes again and looked back to the report. "So what does this note mean? 'Affiliation unknown, approach with care.' Do they think I'm part of a gang already?"

"Well thankfully there are no bodies so it doesn't look like it. They mean more that they don't know if you are Independent, Rogue, Villain, or Hero."

"Oh."

"Red, you were under observation too."

"I was?!" Emma gasped.

"Well your house was. You, Madison Clements, and the psycho herself. Most resources look like they are devoted to the psycho. Funny that, since she's already in lockup."

I shrugged, leaning further against Lisa. "Maybe they are just worried, since I can apparently punch my way out of solid oak."

"Your dad wasn't rich enough for oak, Taylor," Lisa murmured. "But yeah, I get the sentiment. They're being cautious."

Emma jerked upright, the cider sloshing over her hands. "Wait! If they were watching me then - "

"Don't worry, Red, I saw the people they had on you and I avoided them when I went to grab you. Unless they have a physical bug on you we're fine."

I stared at the screen for a few seconds. Finally, I lifted my eyes to meet Lisa's. "So…what does this all mean? What do we do now?"

She sighed. "That's…up to you, Taylor. I was serious when I said that we can try to go at it alone. We'll need to explore…options for more permanent food sources though. Emma brought up a good point about you being possibly hurt in the future, if you're going to be out and about. Her and me aren't going to be enough if you get hurt badly next time. The PRT _could_ help with resources for that sort of thing. On the other hand we have options."

"We could always try to kidnap Alabaster," Emma murmured. Lisa and I both turned to stare at her. Emma's face reddened and she dropped her eyes back to her cider. "It was just a thought…"

Lisa burst out laughing. "You know, Red, maybe I was a bit hasty with hating you. You might just turn out to be acceptable."

I turned my stare on Lisa. "We are _not_ kidnapping someone just so that I have a permanent _bloodbag_."

Lisa's grin just widened as she punched my shoulder. "Don't worry, Tay. We'll revisit this topic once your morals have loosened somewhat. All vampires always loosen their morals after a few weeks of being undead. It's a trope!"

"Lissaaaa!"

"I could ask Madison if she would be willing to help," Emma said. "She was really upset about what happened too…"

"Let me check into her first," Lisa replied. "I'd also like to get at least one or two people who are totally unrelated to Taylor's old life. I met some people on the streets that we might be able to trust. Plus, if we got a bit of a side business going, Charlotte would make a good secretary at least. Sierra would probably be a good manager. Don't know about her brother though…I didn't get good vibes from that kid."

Emma frowned. "Why do you barely know any guys?"

Lisa snorted. "Have you ever walked around Brockton Bay, Red? It's dangerous to get friendly with most of the male population here. There's a better than even chance that they are Merchants, Empire, or ABB. I know _one_ guy who was a decent fellow. Forrest. Intimidating as all hell, but sweetest man you've ever met. He gave me a hundred bucks for a jacket just because I 'looked cold' and he was totally legit about it too."

My gaze dropped to my hands, and my chest tightened. "Dad was like that. Before Mom died. He would make sure that people were okay and then he would…he would…" The words were on the tip of tongue one moment and the next they were gone, as if they had never existed. Between one second and the next, the memory had vanished back into the ether and I was crying and I wasn't even sure why.

Lisa's scent enveloped me. It took me too long to realize that she was hugging me. Emma had halfway lifted herself out of her chair, though she was frozen, looking at us, her hands clenched on the armrests and her face a rictus of pain and sorrow. Lisa was murmuring something. I couldn't make it out. It didn't matter.

It was helping. _That_ was all that mattered.


	7. Adjustment 02

**AN:** I realize that it's more of a fanon thing than a canon thing that Parian makes clothing for parahumans. However, this is _useful_ fanon so I'm going with it and it will just be relegated to more of the minor AU elements. Also, Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

* * *

**Adjustment 02**

"I'm confused. Why do we have a meeting at 8 o'clock in the evening with the girl who puts on puppet shows?" I asked, my head twisting from side to side while my ears strained to pick up all available sound. The smells reaching me were nearly overwhelming, even if I could still somehow sort through the various scents of flowers and syrups and trees. We crossed one alley with the rancid stench of…rotting banana and I cringed away, barely able to stop myself from hissing as I glared towards the darkness. I could make out a shape huddled down at the back of the alley, covered in rags, its eyes lifting to meet my own under my domino mask. The track marks on its arms were bare to me as its arm started to extend from the sleeve.

"That's what I want to know," a curt voice cut through the dark of the night. I snapped my attention away from the man in the alley towards Parian. She was standing at the door to her shop, her arms crossed and her doll mask angled in such a way that she looked taller than she was. She barely reached my shoulders. Her voice had a faint accent I couldn't place.

And she smelled like pine.

I shook my head, jerking my head towards the alley. "Can we go inside? You have a squatter. He doesn't look very nice."

I could hear her teeth grind and her fingers twitched as her head turned almost imperceptibly to the right. "Goddamn. Enforcers were supposed to take care of that Merchant. This is why I don't go home early. Bastard probably is just waiting for me to leave so that he can try to rob me. Again."

Lisa tapped my arm, and when I looked at her, her eyes were narrow under own mask. "You okay?"

"He's…not safe. We shouldn't talk out here."

Parian's arms dropped out of their crossed position as she refocused on me. "I figured you'd be capes, but…are you a precog?"

"No, just…he smells bad. Can we please - "

"Yes. Come in." She sighed and moved away from the door, beckoning for us to follow. I didn't relax until the door swung shut and Parian was locking it behind us. "I'm sorry. I get harassed by the Empire a lot and, well your friend is blonde and you are _very_ pale. I also don't make a habit of getting - or taking - evening meetings."

Lisa nodded. "A bit of an attitude is fine. I realize this is late, and if you'll recall, I explained over the phone that my partner has a condition that prevents an earlier meeting."

"Yeah I remember." Parian sighed, shaking her head. "I thought you were bullshitting me. Now that I see her, I believe it. Sorry again for being snippy. And don't worry about Kevin. He's…frustrating, but harmless. Worst thing he does is break my locks and steal from my till. Now, how can I help you?"

"We're looking for costumes," I said. I waved a hand over the domino masks covering both of our faces. "This isn't good for anything long term and my friend has convinced me that I should be going for something upscale if I can."

Parian snorted as she looked up and down. "Honey, that's not a costume. That's jeans and a t-shirt."

"I wasn't planning to actually _do_ anything tonight," I muttered. I wasn't even hungry after this morning. The only thing I needed to do was pick up some lettuce for Bunnicula. And maybe a nice terrarium for him too. Did bunnies get terrariums?

"Alright, whatever you say. I don't pry. So, are we looking at a theme or are the two of you separate customers?"

Lisa stepped forward, her grin wide and scary. I felt shivers pass down my spine as my eyes widened. Oh no. I was going to seriously regret letting her have free rein…"Definitely a theme. I brought some photos for the type of style that I'm looking to emulate. Think you can do something up like this that would breath and let us move easily enough?" She passed over a small folder and I gulped.

Parian flipped it open and chuckled as she glanced through the pictures. The pine scent rose to prominence just as she snapped the folder closed and appraised both Lisa and myself. "I think I can _definitely_ help you. Do you want a corset with the dress too?"

"Yes. And can you do goggles as well? Maybe with a purple tinge?"

She tapped at her mask's lips. "That would drop a bit of the Victorian thing."

"Well what if we aim for more of a Victorian/Steampunk look instead?"

Parian's answering chortle was nearly as disturbing as Lisa's. "Oh, yeeessss. I like how you think. What would you think of some leather straps on your arms ala gauntlets?"

"As long as I get boots and a hat too!"

"You can't go Victorian Steampunk without a cool hat." Parian turned to me. I didn't have to see her face to know she was smirking. "Now, for _you_ …"

"…Help."

They did not have mercy.

* * *

We were nearly through the whole thing before the real problems showed their face.

"Okay, last thing I need is your measurements. Miss Blonde, do you want to go first or should we get Miss Pale?"

"I still can't believe we went with those for temporary names…We need cape names so bad…" I muttered.

Lisa just threw an arm around my shoulders and smirked. "I'll go first, give Pale here a bit of proof that it's nothing to be worried about."

Parian shrugged. "Well if you have a fear of needles then you probably have something to be worried about. Or flying needles. Or flying tape measures. Or small flying objects in general."

I stared at her. "That's a very specific fear."

"Which is apparently a real thing. I'm an out and proud Rogue, my power is widely known. You would think that if someone comes in for a fitting they would expect me to have flying objects zipping around them to help get measurements. But nope, some idiot couldn't put two and two together and I wound up with a guy running away in his undies having a panic attack. So now I am legally required to warn you that I am going to be utilizing small flying objects to take your measurements. Consider yourself warned."

Lisa just shrugged and stepped forward onto the dais in front of us. She turned to Parian. "How much off?"

"Depends on how skintight you want the body suit part. I'd say down to your underwear to be safe - it would let me get the best custom fit."

Lisa nodded, winked at me and shucked her shirt off over her head, kicking off her shoes and pants a moment later. The mint smell in the room intensified and I resolved to stare anywhere but at my…friend. Parian made a few comments and had Lisa move her arms and legs several times as the tape measure zipped around her. After about five minutes, she was done, her clothes were back on, and I was standing, shuffling my feet.

Parian looked up and gestured to the dais. "Same deal, bra and panties if you don't mind, Miss Pale."

I just swallowed and stepped forward, getting rid of my shoes. As I clutched at the hem of my shirt, I murmured. "I um…I have a um…I have a scar…"

Parian glanced up, shaking her head. "That's fine, I don't judge. I honestly probably wouldn't have even noticed if you hadn't said something. You don't get very far in the fashion business if you can't contain your reactions."

"You'll notice this one," I whispered.

Lisa had sat up, all trace of mirth gone from her as she stepped between me and Parian. "You have a strict non-disclosure policy correct?"

Parian's mask dipped slightly. "Of course. This shop wouldn't have survived if I told everyone who I sell costumes to."

Lisa nodded once then pivoted on her heels so she was facing me. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I…forgot. With the excitement from earlier it…do you want to leave your shirt on?"

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with mint. Slowly, I shook my head. "No. No, I'm…I'm okay."

I gripped my t-shirt and raised it over my head. Parian did a decent job of hiding her reaction. She didn't gasp or jerk away or point. She went a little rigid for a moment before her measuring tape and her pencil went back to work. But my senses were still incredibly strong; and I could hear the heavily increased rate in her breathing as she stared at my chest. I could see the strain in her fingers as she clutched at her pencil.

My hand had healed fine. The cuts and scrapes and bruises I had gotten after the graveyard had all healed without leaving a trace. My allergy to silver hadn't left anything more lasting than an angry red welt; which had gone away with a bit of blood. My trigger hadn't gotten rid of the faint scar on my elbow from when I hit the table when I was five, but that was nothing important.

My body healed fine. Better than fine. My body healed _great_.

All except for the Y-shaped scar on my chest. The spot where - I assumed - they had cut me open to autopsy me.

* * *

It was nearly 11 by the time we left Parian's shop, all of our measurements taken and a promise of a rush delivery - thanks to Lisa paying extra. I was a bit worried at how freely we were already spending Emma's money; though since her father had killed…I shouldn't be worried. It was Alan's money, not Emma's and Alan deserved to lose some of his funds to help set me up. If this indirectly impacted his legal defense, well that was just too bad.

Parian had been nice; she hadn't commented on the scar at all, and if she had noticed that I perhaps didn't breath as much as I really should have once my shirt had come off, she didn't say anything about it. She was super polite and I was glad that Lisa had convinced me to come to her.

Kevin was still in the alley as we passed. My lips lifted as I glared at him.

Lisa lightly grasped my arm. "Sweetie? Time to go."

"He shouldn't be allowed to keep trying to rob Parian."

"Sweetie, time. To. _Go_."

I shook Lisa's hand off and crouched down, my nostrils flaring. The rotting banana scent surged to the forefront, and the darkness parted before my eyes. I could see him as he shifted to stand, his gap-toothed smile leering at me. His grin widened while his finger extended and made a cocking and shooting motion towards us. He twirled on the spot, winding up facing towards me again, his breath positively _reeking_ of decay.

"Taylor."

I lunged, crossing ten feet in a single push of my powerful legs. The alley opened up before me as I pushed off of the wall, redirecting myself towards Kevin. A third jump, and I was landing in front of him. He opened his mouth and I nearly gagged as I stared at him, my eyes narrowed to slits.

He proved to have _some_ semblance of self-preservation left as he stumbled backwards landing on his ass on the ground, his gaze clearing momentarily and a gasp escaping him.

"Taylor!"

I reached down and grabbed his shirt, jerking him upright as I stared into his eyes. I could feel my pupils widen, a strange heat centered behind my temples and around my eyes even as the world around me grew sharper and clearer, in addition to the scents nearby growing in strength by at least a factor of ten.

"Taylor, _stop_!"

" **[Leave Parian alone. Don't rob _anyone_ else! _Ever_!]**" I growled. He just stared into my eyes, his breath coming out in ragged pants. "If you do, _I'll_ be back for you. I'll find you and I'll make you regret it." I made a show of sniffing the air. "I have your scent now, even though I wish I didn't." I dropped him just as Lisa's wrist clamped down on my shoulder. "Get out of here!" Kevin nodded like a bobblehead as he scrambled away from me. I watched until he had disappeared around a bend in the alley, and continued watching for another few seconds until the rancid smell finally dissipated.

Only then did I let myself breath out.

"…Taylor? You with me?"

"I'm fine," I mumbled. My hand was shaking. I clenched it into a fist and swallowed hard. "I just didn't want him to hurt Parian. She was nice."

"She was." Lisa gently pulled on my shoulder until I turned around. Then she pulled me forward until I was leaning against her.

"She was only here this late because of us. We should keep her safe, right? At least for tonight."

Lisa sighed, then attempted to smile, though it looked more like a grimace to me as she asked, "Do you know what you just did, sweetie?"

"Scared him."

"…Sure. Let's go with that."

I pulled back, frowning. "What?"

"It's…let's go home. I'll explain it there, okay? Might as well bring Red in for the convo also."

I just nodded.

* * *

I held Bunnicula in my lap, running one hand down the smooth fur on his back as he ate the piece of lettuce from my other hand. His nose tickled my finger and the beating of his heart in my ears was almost hypnotic. It was so much faster than the other two people in the room. And all three of them might as well have been moving as fast as Velocity compared to me. I could barely even hear my own heartbeat with how slowly it puttered along.

"What did you want to talk about, Lisa?" Emma yawned. The coffee in her hands was steaming and her legs were curled up under her on the armchair. She had practically built a nest out of pillows and spare sheets on it. I suppose that was fair. Lisa only had the two beds and neither of us were really willing to share with Emma, or each other, just yet.

Lisa rubbed at her temples. "I told you to sleep during the day, Red."

"I _did_. I'm still _tired_ , okay?"

"Well you're going to have to get used to burning the midnight oil because our girl here is definitely going to be a night owl and - "

"Lisa," I murmured. She cut off and raised her eyebrows. "Be nice. She's still weak from when I…you know, fed."

Lisa muttered a curse and sat down on one of the chairs at the island. "Yeah, I know. Fine, fine, Emma, I'm sorry. I'll try to finish researching Madison or talk to Charlotte later before dawn. Taylor, how are you doing now? Hungry at all?"

I opened my mouth to say that I was fine, but before I could utter the words, I frowned. The hunger _was_ back. It wasn't the gnawing void that it had been, it wasn't even the dull ache that I had woken up with before the experiments with the garlic and sunlight. But it was definitely a nagging feeling in the back of my head and a small pit in my stomach. Neither of which had been there half-an-hour ago when we left Parian's shop. "Well I _wasn't_. I'm…getting a bit thirsty though."

Lisa nodded. "I thought so. I think your thirst is tied to your powers to a degree."

"Okay, that would make a weird sort of sense," I said, frowning. "But I didn't use any powers except existing."

Emma perked up, switching her gaze from me to Lisa. "She did didn't she?"

"Yeah," Lisa sighed. "Taylor, when you scared away that Merchant junkie, you didn't just terrify him. You Mastered him."

My eyes widened and my hands went still. Bunnicula nipped at my fingers as he kept eating the lettuce and wiggled his back against my frozen hand trying to get scratches. I didn't move.

"Taylor, sweetie, you okay?"

"You're freaking her out. Taylor, you didn't hurt the guy right? If you had, Lisa wouldn't have waited to come back here to talk to you. I mean, I don't really know her, but she takes care of you. She's…a better friend than I ever was. She wouldn't have let you walk back here if something was wrong like that."

My eyelids blinked and I slowly breathed in again. Mint and strawberry filled my head. I breathed out, breathed in. A third time was needed before I started to scratch Bunnicula again. "What did I do?"

"Nothing much really. You just sort of told him to never rob Parian or anyone else again. _Then_ you scared him off," Lisa said.

That…wasn't so bad. But I should have _known_ when I was Mastering someone shouldn't I? I should have been able to feel a difference and I should have…

"My eyes were hot," I whispered. "My eyes were hot and I could see and smell _everything_."

"And your voice was sort of reverberating," Lisa said, nodding. "I don't know if that was because of my power or not though. It's something to test later. I'm tentatively calling this thing 'Enthralling' right now. Because if we're going Classical Vampire, and getting Victorian costumes for the theme, we're damn well going to do this damn thing whole hog."

Emma set her coffee down and leaned forward. "I think you hit me with some of that too when I first got here. Your eyes were really wide and I got lost in them for a few moments until you looked away."

"I noticed it too before that." Lisa shrugged as she came over and patted my knee. "It's honestly not particularly strong from what I can tell. Not until you're starving and even then, you're nowhere near a Valefor level. If you meet and hold someone's gaze, you can give them a command and sway them a bit. I think that's about as far as it goes. For now at least. We might try more after you've recovered some. You've barely been up and about for long after all."

I swallowed and nodded.

Lisa smiled and sat next to me, scratching the top of Bunnicula's head for good measure as she settled in. I shifted so that she could reach him better. The adorable critter just kept eating his food, barely noticing as I moved him around.

"Do you want to talk about what happened at Parian's, sweetie?"

I winced, my hand going to my chest. Emma frowned and changed positions so that she could keep watching the both of us. "What happened with Parian?"

"You've seen how Taylor regenerates, right, Red?" Lisa asked. Emma nodded. "Not everything regenerated."

Emma shook her head. "I don't understand."

"They cut me open," I whispered. The sound was still loud enough to silence the room. Emma's face drained to white and Lisa's hand clamped on mine. "They cut me open and it won't heal. It's closed, but you can still see the scar. Everything else heals, but not that. If that doesn't heal…do I even still have organs? They take out all the organs in an autopsy don't they? Is that why I have amnesia? Did they take out my brain and I'm just skin and bones walking around _thinking_ I'm Taylor?"

"Taylor, that's not true!" Emma shouted.

Lisa leaned into me, laying her head on my shoulder. "Oh, sweetie, you should've said that this was what you were so worried about."

I just kept petting Bunnicula, resolutely not looking at either of them.

Emma moved to the side of the couch, hesitating for a moment before she shook her head, gritted her teeth and leaned down to hug me. Her long red hair curtained around my face and strawberries surrounded me. I breathed deep and loosened my death grip on the final piece of lettuce.

"If you don't have organs anymore, then you're just a Breaker, Taylor! There's nothing wrong with being a permanent Breaker. You're still _you_." I felt Emma's tears land on my shoulder. I still couldn't meet her eyes. Part of me was still trying to pull away from her touch, but the larger section of my mind was reminding my instincts that this girl was willing to turn her head and bare her neck for me to keep living one more night. She'd been a nightmare before, but I barely remembered that nightmare. I remembered her letting me drink her blood and heal.

"Taylor," Lisa murmured as Emma pulled back and dropped to sit at my feet. "I'm not entirely certain why your chest won't heal. I think it probably has something to do with your trigger, but I don't have enough information to really tell you for sure. I may never have enough. What I _can_ tell you is that you _have_ your internal organs. Whether they regenerated, or if they were just never removed…that I can't say. But the first thing I did when I was cleaning you up was to push in the right parts on your body to check that. I may have been willing to take a vampire home with me, but I draw the line at a zombie. Zombies don't get to be freeloaders."

I gave a soft chuckle at that, finally lifting my head to turn and look at her. "Oh? You would've made a zombie me work for her meals huh?"

"Personal maid, personal chef, personal gopher. You got lucky being a vampire, I would've kept you _soo_ busy being a zombie, you wouldn't have even had time to rot!"

That drew a strained giggle from me. A giggle that became a laugh, a laugh that both Lisa and Emma joined in on. All three of us were holding our sides as we let loose the floodgates. The mildly insane floodgates.

It was probably a bad sign that I was crying too. Big, heavy tears that fell on my jeans, and left my laughter closer to choking sobs.

And through it all Bunnicula stared up at me with his annoyed eyes, demanding either more lettuce or a carrot.


	8. Adjustment 03

**The Costumes:** Lisa's costume is basically this: [Steampunk Victorian Lisa](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSK8gZQUIAAWgg8.jpg:large) which I believe is done by 'Chelsea Jinxu Du'. They also have a Skitter drawing which is pretty awesome too.  
  
Taylor's costume is basically [Evie Frye](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/assassinscreed/images/7/70/ACS_Evie_Frye_Render.png/revision/latest?cb=20150809103119) from Assassin's Creed with a bandana.

* * *

**Adjustment 03**

It had been three days. Three days since I had last really 'eaten'. Three days since Emma had come and gone. She had been coming to the apartment during the early evening, but I still hadn't drunk that sweet strawberry syrup again. She needed more time before I could feed again.

I hadn't even really fed from Lisa since that day. I had been trying to make animals work. Literally cutting into people's wrists or throats with my teeth and drinking their blood…there had to be a better long term option.

And yet now, three days later, my fangs were itching and my throat was dry. The world around me had dimmed and sounds were muted. I was more sluggish than I had been in months.

And I was _so thirsty_!

"I wish you would just take the edge off," Lisa muttered beside me as we walked towards the blaring music and flashing lights of the Palanquin.

"You said that I'm basically a baseline human now right? I should remember what this feels like."

She squeezed my hand, the cuffs of her new costume brushing against my wrist in a pleasant, silky way. Parian had done _excellent_ work. The purple highlights of the undershirt set off the highlights on the collar and the corset beautifully. The black boots with a faint purple trim were really nice and apparently very practical. The leather straps stitched into the arms of the overcoat evoked a feeling of gauntlets and Parian said they should stand up to most small blades as well. Even her goggles looked astounding as they accented her cheekbones and brought out her freckles! The leatherbound book strapped to her belt and the fancy looking steampunk adorned, modified gun were just extras - that the gun was just a regular gun, with a few gears on it to make it fit the theme, didn't matter.

My own costume's quality was just as detailed. I had a black, studded jacket that closed over my chest with a small strap of metal designed to look like a pocket watch. The sleeves nearly merged with the leather gloves thanks to the seamless design and the styling. I had nearly fallen in love with the red velvety sash that billowed out from the bottom of the coat behind me as I walked and draped around my legs when I stood still. The leggings blended perfectly with my new brown boots. And my face was hidden thanks to a small red bandana nestled under a dark hood that came up from underneath a fancy, popped-collar undershirt.

All in all, I looked _badass_. Maybe not quite as 'steampunk' as Lisa - definitely more straight up 'Victorian' - but definitely badass. I felt stronger, more confident as we stalked down the roadway now.

"You're starving yourself, Countess," Lisa murmured. No, wait, she was Steward now. Right, I needed to keep that straight. We were in costume. She was Steward, I was Countess.

"I'm making sure I can still function when I'm hungry," I replied. The hunger wasn't all consuming. It was gnawing and frustrating and constant, but it wasn't overwhelming. It wasn't like I was going to go and bite random people, like that guy whose scent tasted like pancakes.

"I need to get you something bigger than rats," she muttered.

"You need to finish researching Madison or find where Charlotte, Sierra, or Forrest went," I said, sighing. "I don't want to leave you weak like Emma. I can't keep feeding from just you while she's recovering. It's not…safe for you. Especially not now that we're going outside."

She grunted. "Noble demon." I smiled, making sure to flash my fangs at her. She'd get the idea even through my bandana thanks to her power.

The smells from the people in this line were so distracting. Shaking my head, I looked forward to the bouncer as we stepped in front of him.

"Hey," Steward nodded as she lifted a hand in salute to the man. "Steward and Countess. We have an appointment with the boss lady here."

The bouncer flipped the page on his pad and a moment later jerked her head to the side stepping to the left. "Inside, up the stairway to the left. Remember, this is neutral territory, don't start anything and if you drink, before or after, the bartenders will still be carding you. Comes with the territory."

My friend nodded, her vulpine grin back in full force as she led the way inside. I rolled my eyes. Lisa had gotten us IDs for our cape identities, but she'd also aged us up so that we _could_ drink if we wanted to. Well, so that _she_ could drink.

As soon as we were in the club proper, the sound assaulted us. The noise pounded down, leaving me wincing and the stabbing of the lights didn't help all that much either. At least my hood mitigated the flashing brilliance, somewhat. It was really the scents that were…overwhelming.

Peppermint, maple, blackberry, blueberry, silicon, formaldehyde, cedar…My head swam with the input coming into my brain from the people around us. As we started towards the stairs an orange skinned man with a long tail wrapped around his waist like a belt peeled off from a gaggle of people around him and started to saunter towards us. He was nearly in front of me when I stopped dead and stared over his shoulder, my eyes narrowing and my fangs itching even more than before. I barely even noticed his silicon blood - even if the slight hint of rubber-undertone was somewhat interesting.

No, I had more important people to watch. I wrinkled my nose, the skulking woman behind Newter smelled of cyanide. How the hell did I know what cyanide - or silicon - smelled like?

"Hi, you two are _punctual_! Normally when a cape calls to set up a meeting, they come a few minutes early or a few minutes late. They almost never get here _exactly_ on time."

"We like to make an entrance," Steward said, smirking. "Shall we?"

Newter laughed and gestured wide. Steward only had to tug on my hand once to get me to follow along after her as we started up the stairs, Newter right behind us.

I never took my eyes off of the woman with the rancid cyanide and rotting lemon smell. The woman who was staring at Newter's back with wide eyes and a mouth that was open too far. The woman whose fingers were clenching and unclenching and who kept twitching every few seconds. The air around her fingers was flowing in a circle completely counter to the air conditioning.

That didn't stop me at all from using her scent to follow her as she moved through the crowd.

The door to the upper rooms closed before I was aware we were inside the room. Taking a deep breath, most of the blood scents died down and I shook my head, instead focusing on the people around us and trying to ignore the instincts that were screaming inside me to find that woman and _kick her ass_. I looked to Newter. "You have a Merchant problem."

Steward groaned and massaged her temples. "Why do you hate Merchants _so much_?" she muttered.

Newter frowned, the mirth dropping away from his face as his tail unwound and fanned out behind him. The other man in the room stood, a big guy at that. His blood was just as clinical as Newter's, an odd mix of cotton and ethanol. The girl in the green robes with a maze on her mask just stayed sitting down, rocking slightly as her head stared off towards the back wall. She was…far more intriguing. I didn't have a chance to really sample her scent though before Newter and the other man frowned at each other, then their gazes came to rest on me.

"Come again?" Newter asked.

"Blue jacket, red shoes. She had a green trimmed vest and dark hair that hung over her eyes a bit. She was right behind you. She was collecting some of your sweat as you walked past her."

Newter's lip twitched and his tail lashed to the side before all of his movements stopped dead. "Did she now?"

The large, semi-translucent man stepped closer, extending a hand to the door we had just walked through. "Newter, why don't you see about removing our friend from the establishment. Countess, your tip is appreciated. I am Gregor the Snail and this is my teammate, Labyrinth. Please come this way, Faultline is ready for you."

I nodded and he led us into an office just past the upper lounge. It was a large office and there was enough room for all of us to sit comfortably inside it with room left over. I didn't miss how the arrangement of the room left me and Steward sitting across the desk from Faultline with Gregor on the couch behind us.

Gregor closed the office door and Faultline tapped a few final keys on her computer before shifting and facing Steward and me, her welding mask hiding her expression. At least, that was probably the intent. I was getting a lot better with my new senses and while the world may have been dulled, Faultline was close enough that I could get an almost clear picture of her face even behind the mask.

"Before we begin, thank you for the Merchant tip. We usually catch those types, but there's always one or two who manage to slip and ruin the fun for everyone else. I still don't get why they attempt to bottle Netwer's essence. It's never going to act like the drugs they want," she sighed. "How did you spot her so quickly?"

I shrugged. "I can smell the drugs they use. It…pollutes them. It's part of my power."

Faultline nodded, folding her hands. "Not too many sense based capes around in the Bay these days. The only real person of note is Cricket at the moment. Your choice of costume in that respect is a good one. It'll avoid any implications of being involved with the Empire by sticking to the old fashioned concept instead."

Steward smirked. "Oh yes, that is definitely a wonderful side benefit. I have to say, I am _loving_ what this corset is doing for my figure too."

"Then you are obviously not wearing it correctly. Corsets are supposed to be painful."

"Not when Parian is doing the creating."

"Corsets are supposed to be painful. Trust me," Faultline grumbled. "But enough small talk, you requested to meet for a reason."

Steward nodded. "We did. I'm somewhat new in town, but from everything I've found, your team is very sympathetic to Case 53s."

"We are," Faultline said slowly, her eyes narrowing as she looked at me more closely behind her mask.

"Countess and I are still trying to decide if it's worth going to the PRT. We're not entirely satisfied with how they've done things in the past, but Countess still has some of those pesky 'morals' that would fit decently with their organization."

"Whereas you slot in better with Villains I assume?"

"Oh you wound me!" Steward laid a hand over her heart and one on her head, palm out like she was swooning.

I shut my eyes. "Steward. Stop being dramatic. We want their help, not to piss them off."

She sighed. "Jeez, a girl can't have any fun. Fine, fine. I wouldn't go as far as calling me a Villain, but I am…flexible if need be. Currently we're likely to try to set up a Rogue business thing in the next few days. Talking to you is a bit of a compromise. Maybe we could trade for advice, help you out with some things you need in exchange for the assistance. Or, if you have any positions open, we could talk trial memberships, see what sort of contracts you all take so that we know if we'd be comfortable with that sort of thing."

"I see," she said. Faultline's fingers spread out on her desk as she leaned back. "If you're serious about joining my Crew, you should know that we have taken contracts from both the ABB and the Empire in the past. In addition to contracts from more legal sources, such as businessmen and the Protectorate."

I grimaced. "We…expected that."

"And yet you are unhappy with it."

"I grew up here. I've lived here all my life. This city is my home; my mom and dad, they wanted to fix it. They remembered it before it became the horrible place it is now. I'm not - I don't want to do anything to help the gangs make Brockton Bay even worse."

Faultline sighed and lifted her arms from the table, folding them across her chest. Lisa's shoulders drooped slightly as the implicit threat levels plummeted. Faultline's coppery scent tickled my nose and I had to resist the urge to sneeze. "I grew up here too, kid. I don't particularly like taking those jobs, but it's necessary sometimes to make sure that my team can keep things running. We don't always get what we want."

"Yeah…" I murmured.

"Now, since there's a potential of you joining my team, I'm going to get a bit personal here for a moment." She leaned forward and eyed what was visible of my face under my bandana and hood. "You don't look much like a Case 53. What makes you think that my Crew would be a better fit for you than anything else? A lot of heroes would have no issues taking someone on if they can blend in as well as you can. Granted, you might have to leave the city since the only other major heroic group around besides the Wards is New Wave, but still, the option is a good one if you want to keep your nose out of the muck."

Steward frowned. "That is _very_ personal, considering that we haven't even agreed to a Ride-Along yet."

Faultline shrugged. "I like to know what I'm working with. I'm not asking her to unmask, just for clarity, so that I'm aware of what I'm dealing with. I'd have to make sure the whole team is up for this as well."

And at that near perfect segway, Newter walked back into the office, Labyrinth following behind him. Now that she was standing and I was less distracted, it was easy to see why she caught the most attention out of Faultline's people - even discounting her power. She was slightly shorter than me, maybe two or three years older, and her hair was the sort of platinum blonde that edged towards near white. Her blood smelled like honey and glass and moss. Old moss, covering something impossibly ancient. I found myself smiling as I breathed her in. She was…peaceful.

Labyrinth lifted a hand in a small wave and started to edge towards me, before Gregor stepped up and gently guided her to the couch with him, Newter taking up a position against the far wall. I waved back to the girl before wrenching my attention back towards Faultline.

The woman's eyebrows had lifted behind her mask and her lips had thinned to a line. Great, I had succeeded in annoying her solely by waving to one of her members. Capes were frustrating to deal with.

"I really need an answer to my question if we're going to have a longer term relationship," Faultline said. To her credit, her voice didn't reflect her frustration at all. If I hadn't been able to get a near encyclopedic view of my surroundings through my other senses, I never would have suspected at all.

I pulled off my glove and held it up for her to see my pale skin. Faultline's eyes narrowed to slits as she leaned forward to look closer at my hand. "That's it? You're not an albino, your eyes and hair aren't the right color."

I shook my head. "I've never really tanned before, but after I triggered, my skin is _very_ pale. Almost white. My eyes do get a bit weird as well, but that's also because of my powers more than anything else. I think."

Faultline's movements stilled and her breathing slowed to a crawl as I finished talking. Her eyes never left my hand. Her own hand settled back down on the table, and I barely stopped myself from wincing. What was going wrong here? Was I being too honest? Was that a _bad_ thing?

"Do you have a tattoo?" Gregor asked.

I frowned and twisted to look at him. "What sort of tattoo?"

"Like a pot or a stylized 'C' in a strange font. It would be small, but noticeable." He shrugged. "We've met Case 53s who have had the tattoo anywhere from their arms to their eyelids."

I shook my head. "No. I'm sorry, I don't think so."

Newter nodded once. "How about memory loss?"

"I have amnesia…" I said.

"Not the way you're talking about though," Steward said. "Hers isn't complete and is more likely trauma or injury induced than a complete wipe like the two of you."

"Why are you _here_?" Faultline said, her voice more hoarse than it had been even a few seconds earlier.

"We've already told you," Steward said. Her hand drifted down towards her side as she frowned.

"What is the _real_ reason?"

I shook my head. "We weren't lying. We wanted advice and to see if we could work together and be a part of your team."

Faultline leaned forward, her eyes still locked onto my exposed hand. " _And_?"

Steward rolled her eyes and threw up her left hand, her right still staying near her gun. " _Annd_ after everything was done, we were going to see if you might be able to help with - or suggest someone who could - my partner's new dietary restrictions. Her trigger has resulted in some complications and we thought you might be sympathetic and able to assist somehow. Everyone in the city knows you run a fucking _nightclub_ and you work regularly with villains. Obviously you're doing something right. We're just starting out, advice at avoiding feather ruffling would be _appreciated_."

Faultline's eyes lifted from my hand and settled on my face, she appeared to be looking right at my bandana. Right at my _fangs_. "Your issues with food…You wouldn't happen to be on a… _liquid_ diet now would you?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Newter asked.

My eyes widened as I nodded and beside me Steward cursed, her hand clamping fully onto her pistol's grip.

"Out." Faultline stood so suddenly that the desk was pushed forward a few inches. I cringed back from her even though she was just stabbing her finger towards the door.

"What?" I asked, huddled in the chair. "I don't understand, what did - "

"Get out. Now. I can't have you in my home, my place of business. Get the fuck out. If I could I would force you from the fucking _city_. Get. _Out_!"

"Faultline," Gregor said, standing, his arms spread wide as he took a step forward.

"No. Stay back and _shut up_. You. Get. Out."

"I - I just…" I hung my head as I sniffed the air again. Faultline's copper scent was completely overwhelmed by the stink of fear nearly _oozing_ from her. Beneath the mask, her eyes were wide and her teeth were clenched so hard it was amazing that she hadn't chipped a tooth yet. I slipped my glove back on and stood. "I'm sorry that we bothered you. We'll leave."

"Wait," Lisa said, clamping a hand around my arm as she stood, facing Faultline. "Tell us what you know."

Faultline shook her head, her finger steady as she kept pointing to the door. "If you know what is good for you you'll get far away from… _her_. And if you know what is good for the _city_ you'll take care of this before you go."

Lisa stiffened beside me, her fingers tightening on the grip of her gun. "That sounds like a threat. We have done nothing to warrant that."

"How long has it been?" Faultline whispered. I could barely hear her even as my ears strained at their limits.

"About a week since I triggered," I said, my gaze still locked on the floor.

Faultline scoffed. "Congrats, that's better than I would have expected. But it won't last. Mark my words, it won't fucking last." She turned to Steward, her expression softening as she let out an inaudible sigh. "If you want to try to prolong what time you have, get out of the fucking city. Buy a cabin in the woods, grab three or four other people that you trust, and _stay there_. With luck, you might get a few weeks. Maybe a few months. You'll still end up crying at the end though. Or you'll be dead. But at least that way your little fantasy might last longer and the fallout would be contained."

Lisa scowled, her hand finally letting go of her gun as she stepped between me and Faultline. "Is that what you would do if you were me?"

Faultline barked out a single laugh. "Kid, if I was you, I would push that girl out the door at first light, throw the fucking dresser in front of it, and pray to god that she was ash before she could break back inside."

"Necessary sacrifices," Lisa spat.

"Necessary sacrifices. Now get that thing the fuck out of my place."

* * *

We were two blocks away from the Palanquin before I was able to bring myself to stop walking and turn to Lisa. The streets around us were deserted, it was pitch black outside of the streetlights' dim splashes of radiance, we were as alone as we'd get until we got back to the apartment.

"What happened? What did we - what did _I_ do?"

"Absolutely _nothing_ ," Lisa spat. She grabbed my arms, pulling my hands away from my desperate self-hug and held them in her own. She was so warm, and I was so cold. So, so cold. And the world was so quiet. I could barely even hear _her_ and she was right in front of me. I was so cold. And I was so thirsty.

"Sweetie, look at me." I lifted my head, my eyes were hot. I thought I was crying, but when Lisa immediately glanced to the side and centered her gaze on my ear I knew I had been wrong.

I wasn't crying.

"You. Did. Nothing. Wrong. _Nothing_! You don't get to be at fault for simply _existing_. Especially when she obviously knows more than she is willing to fucking share. That bitch can go and pick a fight with Lung for all I fucking care."

"But what did she _mean_? Why did she freak out? Why did she seem to know about _me_?"

"We…may have been jumping the gun with our idea about capes…"

"Will you stop talking in riddles for one minutes, _please_?!" I cried. I squeezed her hands. Lisa winced, a small, short gasp escaping from her lips before she clenched her teeth.

I immediately loosened my grip, glancing down to make sure I hadn't actually bruised her. That was when the scent of mint - and was that rosemary underneath it? How had I missed the rosemary for so long? - nearly overwhelmed me. My eyes widened as I saw her blood under my fingers. Under my finger _nails_. My fingernails which had extended out into makeshift claws and pierced her skin even through my gloves. I jerked back clutching my hands to my chest. "Oh no, no, no - I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean - "

"It's fine. It barely broke the skin." She wiped her hands on a red handkerchief, then stepped forward reaching for me. "Come on, let's go home. I'll try to figure out what Faultline has done that would give her insight into," she waved her hand over me, "this. But come on. You're hungry; you were straining yourself a lot in that room so that you could keep reading her. Let's go home so you can eat."

"I…Lisa I…"

"Come on, Taylor, let's go home." She clutched my shoulder, but I pulled away.

"What if I hurt you? I _just_ hurt you. I…Faultline - she knew - she said…what if I…?"

"You're _not_ going to hurt me, Taylor." Lisa stepped forward, again reaching for me. "I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but you didn't hurt me when you were _fucking feral_. Faultline can go fuck herself, she doesn't know _you_ and she doesn't know _me_. Now, please, let's go _home_. I promise you will feel so much better tomorrow night after you've had a chance to rest and get a bit more blood in you."

"I…I just…"

A scream cut through the night. The world around us grew sharper and the sounds of the city smashed against my skull as my eyes heated up again. My head whipped around to face a nearby alley. I dimly noted that Lisa was frowning towards me, lifting her gun out of its holster as she took in my expression.

Raising my head, I sniffed the air. Instantly, sounds were muffled and the colors washed out, but my sense of smell shot through the roof. And coming from the alley…were five different flavors of rotting vegetables plus a single healthy pear scent. There was a sweet maple syrup with a bit of a buttermilk tinge to it on the air as well which was rapidly getting closer, but I didn't pay it any mind. What was important was the rot and the pear.

My lips curled back, exposing my fangs as I snarled.

"Oh _shit_. Taylor wait -"

I pushed off the ground, reaching the mouth of the alley in two jumps. I hit the streetlight feet first using it to redirect my leap so that I launched myself down the alleyway. The pear girl screamed a second time as she backed herself up against the wall, two of the Merchants standing above her. One swinging a pipe against his meaty hand, the other leaning down to paw for her purse. The other three were laughing from their positions nearby. Two of those had melee weapons, the last had a gun.

None of them stood a chance. My leap landed me on top of the dumpster just above the two closest Rotters. I snarled, the sound bringing everything in the alley to a dead stop. Everything but me. I reached down with preternatural speed, ripping the weapons from their hands and throwing them hard enough that one of the pipes embedded itself into the brick of the far wall. The Rotter gasped. I opened my mouth, grabbing his shirt and lifting him to my face, roaring. The acrid stink of him disgusted me and I threw him at his friend. Both of them crumpled even as a shout from my Soţie rang out from the mouth of the alley.

The explosion from the gun in the Rotter's hand left my head aching and set my lips lifting into a snarl. The crash had barely resounded in the air before I was leaping to the side. The dull ping of the bullet's impact near the dumpster reached me just as I touched down. Had I stayed put the shot would have hit me, and if I didn't start moving again then the booms from the weapon would come again. It was good that I was already moving then. I skipped back and forth across the small alley from one side to the other as he tried to shoot me three more times, each time I was closer to him. The fourth time he tried to shoot me I crushed the gun in my grip and punched him hard enough to send him flying back towards his friends, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Two Rotters left. One was stupid; he sprinted away from the woman on the ground heading towards me instead and pulled his pipe back to swing it at my head. I leaned back just enough to watch it sail past my hood, then I snapped my hand forward and grabbed it from the air. Snapped the metal in half over my leg, I bared my fangs and nearly laughed as the Rotter stumbled backwards. He fell over his own feet and cracked his head on the pavement taking himself out of the fight.

The last Rotter was at least somewhat more intelligent. He had grabbed the women and had a knife pressed to her throat. A shaking knife.

"St-stay there or I'll k-k-kill her!"

"Drop the knife and let the woman go, asshole!" My Soţie yelled, her weapon held steady, her eyes centered on the Rotter.

Above me, the bearer of the maple syrup blood had arrived. He touched down on a sign just overhead, his heartbeat steady and his breathing calm. He was used to this. He was experienced.

"Console, the Merchant has the civilian, if you want Kid Win to back me up then tell him to move _faster_. I'm not letting this man hurt someone because we refused to engage a single person when I might as well be _bulletproof_!"

He was too far to stop me.

"I said stay b-back!"

I just smiled, my teeth glinting in the dim light. I had lowered the bandana at some point. I didn't know when. It didn't matter. It was better for the Rotters to see my fangs. They would carry the story back about how _I_ was in this city and how _I_ was going to be coming for them. Them and their _disgusting_ blood. Their _diseased_ blood. Their _poisoned_ blood.

How _dare they_.

I kicked off of the ground. The Rotter had just enough time to register that I was behind him - not nearly enough time for him to swipe the pear girl's throat with his knife - before I had clamped my hand on his arm and wrenched him to the side. He screamed as he flew sideways smashing into the wall. His nose crumpled and he slumped to the alley floor with a quiet moan before his breathing evened out into unconsciousness.

The girl looked up at me, her eyes wide. She whispered something, looked towards the maple syrup man as he alighted on the ground next to me, his heartbeat increased an extra 20 beats a minute. They both said something more as my Soţie came closer, holstering her weapon.

"Yeah, I'm with her. Damn, Countess, I knew you moved fast, but holy crap. Are you okay? Did they wing you at all?"

Maple Syrup and Pear looked at me, he waved to her and she whispered something to me, then ran off down the alley, turned the corner and fled from my sight.

"Countess?"

I breathed deep. Mint and maple syrup. And so, so much _poisoned_ blood. The gnawing ache had turned into a gnashing void inside me. I _needed_ to fill that void. It _hurt_. It felt like my body was trying to eat itself as more and more of my Thrall's strawberry blood went into feeding my strength. The lesser creatures' strength had already been devoured. I needed… _more_.

I was _so. Thirsty_.

"I'm…thirsty, Soţie," I murmured. Turned aside from her, I centered myself on Maple Syrup.

"…What the fuck is a Soţie?" I just smiled at her as I regarded the man.

I needed to feed. I wouldn't hurt my Soţie. I _refused_ to take from her when we were this far from the Lair. She would be weakened and vulnerable before we could return to safety. Maple Syrup was the only close one without _poisoned_ blood.

He would do just fine.

Maybe I would take my Soţie out for pancakes when I was done.

* * *

**AN:** For those googling this before the next chapter, 'Soţie' is Romanian and the version of the 't' is important because otherwise google returns a result for a French type of short satirical play which is not what is intended. (But ironically, still accurate when it comes to Lisa.)


	9. Interlude 2-C

**Interlude 2 - C**

"You _sure_ you're okay to go to this meeting buddy?" Dennis asked. Probably the sixth time, at this point Carlos had lost count.

"I told you, I'm fine. Will you please stop blocking the door before I have to pull rank?"

Missy grunted from her seat at the kitchen island. "What you _said_ was that you were still woozy. Woozy isn't fine."

Carlos had to actually bite his tongue to keep himself from bringing up how _she_ had gone toe-to-toe with Hookwolf a few weeks back and had needed _him_ to help her stitch the cut on her chest closed. Then proceeded to her _own_ meeting parroting that she was 'perfectly fine'. A bit of lightheadedness was nothing compared to that.

That he could still feel some pain for biting said tongue wasn't important. The effects were fading and his biology was starting to catch back up. There was no reason to skip the meeting and every reason to be present. Piggy was against parahumans in general and she would jump on any opportunity presented by him not being able to attend and use it to heap more shit on the new girl. That cape needed _help_ not more enemies.

He also really didn't want to end up fighting her. Something in his bones told him that wouldn't turn out well for him. Maybe it was the fact that even hours later, his adaptation and redundancy were muted. That probably had something to do with it.

Shaking his head, Carlos forced the same winning smile he used when cameras were on him. "Guys, I appreciate the concern, really I do. But I need to head up. We'll discuss this more once I get back. Okay?"

Dennis cracked his knuckles and stepped to the side. "Fine. Whatever man. You want to collapse in the hallway, that's on you. I still say you should have had Amy come and check you out."

Carlos didn't bother saying that they had already asked New Wave and the group had declined to come. He understood that and he didn't hold a grudge. He wasn't in a life threatening situation, his wounds were already starting to heal - if slowly - and Amy was exhausted. At least if her appearance in school was anything to go by. Maybe he should talk with Vicky tomorrow, see how they could get a day off for the healer. That girl worked too much and she was driving herself into the ground.

Carlos forced himself out of his musings as he stepped off the elevator and walked into the conference room. Ethan waved to him and gestured towards the only open seat while Hannah smiled and flashed him a subtle salute. Nodding to the two heroes and returning their greetings, he settled into his seat. A soft, barely audible sigh was the sole concession he gave to the weariness that was set deep in his bones. It hadn't exactly been a long walk, but he was still feeling it. He'd been relying on his power for too long. He was going to have to start working out again. If he was going to be this useless whenever a power nullifier came along, the team was going to have major issues.

"Now that we are all here," Colin said, standing and clicking on a projector. "Let us begin."

"One moment, Armsmaster," the Director said, holding up her hand. Carlos sighed, none of them were in costume, she could have just called Colin by his name. She shouldn't have been here anyway. This was the briefing for the Protectorate, and the current head of the Wards. The PRT ran their own briefing, usually simultaneously, and the Director was expected to turn up to that one - _not_ the cape one. The rest of the Wards would get a much less detailed threat briefing later. With how Piggot ran things, her presence wasn't _unexpected_ , but that didn't make her welcome or right. She was going to make this whole thing far too antagonistic before they had even begun.

True to form, the Director turned her head and her narrow, beady eyes drilled right into Carlos. "Aegis, are you well enough to be present?"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't, Ma'am." Not for the first time, he found himself forcing a bright smile for the woman. Maybe it would be better to go to the Youth Guard to try and get her removed one of these days…It wasn't like she was following normal procedure for this city anyway and she wasn't asking about his health because of any actual concern she had for him. No, the utter lack of any warmth in her delivery made that perfectly clear.

"Very well, Armsmaster, continue."

Colin nodded and a moment later, several images popped up on the screen. Carlos winced at the display and he felt his dinner rebelling for several moments. "These photos show a timeline of what we are aware of concerning the subject. The first is the BBPD photo of her removal from the locker prior to transport. The second is of the autopsy. While the coroner was not as thorough as he could have been, at least _something_ was done. The associated report is an addendum in the back of your files."

The Director breathed out. "A _summary_ , if you please, Armsmaster."

The man just nodded. "Death due to heart attack, blood toxicity, and cranial trauma. There appears to have been both a nail sticking out from behind her head in the locker and she appeared to have struck her head repeatedly while trying to bludgeon her way out. No other findings were significant."

Carlos' dinner again made itself known and he had to clench his hands hard enough to nearly draw blood again as looked down. What kind of monster would put someone into a position like that?

And how the _hell_ had he been working _next_ to said monster for _months_ without suspecting a thing?

"Moving on, the third photograph is of the disturbed grave with emphasis on the surrounding hand and foot prints showing the likelihood of someone leaving the grave itself and walking away from the scene. If you open your reports to page 4, you'll see the analysis of the dirt patterns in the area further lending weight to this interpretation."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but she could have just regenerated. Head trauma is known to cause slowed regeneration for some capes. And even discounting that, there are several known cases of people reviving as much 26 hours following their 'death'. That happened in Houston only…three, four months back?" Jessie said.

Colin shook his head. "I am aware. Had the morgue had Lazarus Scales we might have better data either way, but unfortunately, they do not. I have already put in an emergency request to have all city morgues updated to the latest technology."

Ethan scowled. "That fucking mortuary cut so many corners. It's a miracle we even _have_ photographs of the kid. So much of this could have been avoided if they had followed _any_ of the protocols."

"Yet they didn't," the Director stated. "Move on, Armsmaster. I don't have all day for this."

Colin's jaw twitched. If Carlos hadn't worked with him for so long, he might have missed it, and yet…Well it was nice to know that the Wards weren't the only people who had issues with Director Piggy.

"This photograph is approximately 2 hours after we assume the grave was disturbed."

"I thought the Boardwalk had better cameras than that," Carlos said. The photo was somewhat distant, the staggering girl leaning against the wall was barely caught in the frame and still there was a sort of distortion around her as if the camera couldn't focus.

"Their cameras are top of the line," Colin said. "This is the _best_ photograph of her. All others, from the graveyard to the Boardwalk do not capture her at all, or if they do, it is a foot or hand just entering or leaving the frame."

"Stranger then," the Director grunted.

"I don't believe so, no." Colin shook his head and flipped the projector through several quick images before moving back to the one of her leaning against the wall. "There are others from after this night where she _is_ clearly visible. I believe it more likely that this was an early application of her Mover ability as well as a subtle Thinker effect."

Hannah leaned forward, her hands steepled as the green haze of her power settled into a knife to her side. "You're saying that she knew where the cameras were and avoided being caught in frame?"

"The data is inconclusive, but…yes. That is what I and Dragon have determined so far."

He tapped his remote and the scene changed again, this time showing two Enforcers running from an alley. A short teenager with light hair was just visible at the mouth of the throughway. Her build was difficult to determine, but if Colin was highlighting this part in particular…

"We're nearly certain that this is where Countess and Steward met. Following this shot, there are several that show Steward walking away from this alley and a few have the hints of Countess' presence at the edges of the frame."

Director Piggot tapped the table as she flipped the report in front of her. "No word on those Enforcers? This is the sort of incident they should be reporting. And why would they be cornering a teenager in an alley to begin with? This doesn't sit right. Did any of the photos show them clearly enough to investigate them?"

Armsmaster shook his head. "No. They were very aware of the camera angles. No ordinary Enforcer is that lucky or well trained."

"Coil."

"Most likely."

Carlos nodded. "That fits." The others looked at him and he waved his hand towards the person they were assuming was Steward. "She presented herself as a Thinker to me. If Coil wanted to send his mercenaries to accost a random girl, it definitely lends credence to her being a Thinker."

Colin clicked the remote. "We believe so as well. Well thought, Carlos. Moving on with the timeline…"

"Skip ahead to the relevant parts," the Director said, cutting him off.

Colin sighed and flipped through the next several slides. "Your reports have the recorded dates and times of Steward's purchases of small pets. If you read the receipts, you'll note that the only pet she appears to have purchased the relevant food stuffs for is a rabbit."

Jessie winced. "Damn. The girl ate the critters?"

Colin grimaced. "The evidence does suggest that, yes. Now, as to prominent activities afterwards, we have tracked data for a visit to Parian several evenings past this night, as well as multiple witnesses reporting the two leaving the Palanquin immediately prior to their encounter with Aegis and the Merchants."

"So they _were_ meeting with Faultline. Doesn't that give more credit to the idea that she is just a Case 53 and not a…you know," Ethan said. His grimace didn't fully track with how he held two fingers to his mouth and hissed in an exaggerated show of fake fangs. Carlos winced on his behalf.

Colin grunted. "I believe she _thinks_ she's a Case 53. However, with all of the evidence, it's abundantly clear that we're dealing with a _homo noctis_. Before her run-in with Aegis, I would have said it could go either way, now…"

"When someone sinks their teeth into you, it rather cements the ambiguity, huh?" Carlos said, trying to flash his smile again. It fell flat and after a second he dropped it. "I thought the odds of a vampire surviving more than a night were somewhere around, literally one-in-a-million. That's what your read-ahead report was saying."

"Those were the figures approximately 3 decades back," Colin said. "With the rise of parahumans, there has also been an increase in viable 'vampires'. From the research that I've done, many believe that whatever mutation allows for the development of a corona pollentia, it also gives better odds for the transmission of the condition leading to a _homo noctis_ metamorphosis."

The Director scoffed. "'Many believe'. How many is 'many'? Everything that I've been briefed on prior to this is that vampirism is so vanishingly rare that there are maybe 100 people in this entire country that have any knowledge of it being real, let alone have done actual _research_."

This time Colin did actually scowl. "Yes, while it is rare many people remain under the mistaken notion that there is no truth to the established mythology. _However_ , there _has_ been research done to prove credence to the spectacular in the past. Just because it has been done behind closed doors does not mean that it has not _happened_. Nor does it mean that I cannot request access to the data."

"And another thing," Director Piggy said, flipping more pages all while utterly ignoring his input. "Vampires - those that survive - are almost universally feral. Do you have any numbers for how many of them stay sane or for how _long_ that sanity lasts, Armsmaster?"

"Yes. I do." He bit out, the acid in his tone causing Carlos to wince. This was going to devolve into a shouting match soon, and there wasn't anything he could do to prevent it. "Again, there is a clear divide between 'Before Parahumans' and 'After Parahumans'. _Homo noctis_ metamorphosis failed in nearly 85% of all occurrences prior to 1982. The resulting individual was little more than a walking corpse and if they were not re-killed by the people around them, they inevitably died within the following few days. All records indicate that these 'throwbacks' - as the _homo noctis_ refer to them - were not sentient and reacted solely on the most basic of instincts before their mutation ultimately killed them."

"Not what I asked."

"Yes. It was. _Background_ is _important_ for understanding," Colin hissed. Everyone fidgeted uncomfortably as the two stared at each other. Finally, Colin shook his head and continued talking. "The latest records indicate that since 1982, the successful completion of metamorphosis has risen from 15% to 45%. Many of the individuals are, still, ultimately violent and predatory in nature. However, the majority do appear to be able to retain a semblance of their prior selves."

Ethan shook his finger towards the screen. "You said the majority, not all. I didn't even know vampires were _real_ until a few hours ago. Have we worked with any before? Is that how we know all of this?"

Colin nodded and tapped on his tablet, bringing up three more pictures. Carlos looked through the report in front of him to find the names of the capes - _vampires_ \- on the screen. His right hand closed over his neck for a moment as he found the right page and saw an image of a smiling man, fangs exposed as he laughed at the cameraman.

"In Portland there was a man who went by the name of Helsing. No relation to the myth according to him. He was a great asset to the PRT in the city, keeping most crime in the area to a minimum for several years before he and his partners vanished. In Toronto, there was a woman who used the alias Nightshade while dealing with the local police and Guild members. They had an amicable relationship and she is the source of much of our data. In Romania, there was an individual who is…well he claims to be ancient and has been known to use names such as Dracul, Alucard, Vlad…The Thinkers I consulted were split on if he is simply appropriating the titles or if he is the person from myth. Either way, he generally assists the locals during times of crisis; even if he tends to terrify them in the process."

Director Piggot grunted as she stared at the page near the end of the packet. "And how does this spread? Do I need to call for Triumvirate level assistance with an extermination of the infection or is it containable?"

Colin visibly let out a breath, his eyes closing and his fist unclenching before he responded. "If you had read the data I provided _two days ago_ , Ma'am, you would remember that I was clear that _homo noctis_ is _genetic_. They cannot pass the condition on unless they are already in contact with another that has the latent genes allowing for a metamorphosis. Even then, there is variability."

Jessie nodded. "Okay, so it's not going to be Night of the Living Dead. Awesome. And this girl appears…mostly lucid. I mean, if she can go talk to Parian and Faultline, maybe we can work with her like Portland and Toronto did."

"That is my intention," Colin said nodding. "The data is quite clear that if one has survived this long, they are capable of continuing on and as she appears to be perfectly content to not harm anyone - "

"She _attacked_ a _Ward_ ," Piggot spat. Her eyes were narrowed and her mouth was a thin line as she glared at Colin.

Carlos shook his head. "She was barely lucid, yet she still took out all the threats and kept the victim safe. She only bit me for, maybe thirty seconds. And immediately afterwards she apologized; she actually seemed terrified that she had hurt me. Steward was also very clear that my power would return in a few hours, which it already has, mostly."

Piggot scoffed. "Allow me to repeat myself as all of you seem to be jumping behind the vampire: _She attacked a Ward_."

"I am _very_ open about being able to survive damn near anything, Ma'am," Carlos said. He lifted his hands in a calculated shrug. If he was able to defuse this situation, he'd have to send Glenn Chambers a fruit basket for the public relations lessons. "She needed blood to stay on her feet, and it's infinitely better to take it from someone who is capable of taking a hit and getting back up than from chowing down on a non-cape or a squishy Thinker. She made the right call."

"She is _attacking_ people in my city," Piggot snapped. "This situation cannot be allowed to continue under any circumstances."

"In point of fact, Madam Director," Colin said, even as the screen behind him changed to a chart of crimes in Portland and Toronto, "Countess has been _extremely_ careful prior to last night. There is not a single conclusive instance indicative of a _homo noctis_ in the area besides her disturbed grave. The Empire and ABB individually do more damage in a single day than this girl has done in two weeks. Countess' one instance of a strike was her accosting of Aegis, who _again_ , is known to be able to survive something like that without even blinking. We were only aware she existed beforehand because of the connection to Shadow Stalker's determination to become a murderer."

"This has nothing to do with Shadow Stalker," Piggot growled.

"This has _everything_ to do with Shadow Stalker," Colin shouted, slamming a hand on the table. Jessie and Carlos both flinched back while Hannah just hung her head. "I _warned_ you that Sophia Hess was a horrific fit for the Wards. I _told you_ that she was going to cross a line. I _explained in detail_ why she was a danger to everyone around her. I _showed_ you the stockpiles of lethal ammunition she kept 'secret'. You _refused_ to consider any other options than allowing her to continue with her crusade to 'clean up the city'. Sophia Hess _murdered_ a teenager! That the girl happens to be walking around today is due to sheer _luck_. I _will not_ let you demonize the victim when she is making every attempt to do the right thing. You _will not_ brush this under the rug Director! Taylor Hebert is going to get her Three Strikes or I am going to see you in prison as an accessory to two murders!"

Piggot leaned forward, her lips thinned to a near invisible line. "Careful, Armsmaster. I can have you - "

"You can't do anything to me. Not now that we have a _homo noctis_ in the city," Colin stated. "If you try then the Chief Director will remove you immediately and then reinstate me within the hour."

"This is a cape coup," she hissed.

"If you want to look at it that way, be my guest." Colin tapped his remote and the projector powered down. "It doesn't change the fact that Taylor Hebert is still going to be afforded the same benefit of the doubt that every other new cape in the city gets."

Ethan coughed and everyone stared at him. He rubbed the back of his neck and flashed a small attempt at a smile. "Sorry, I just wanted to clear up one thing. I thought that she was a _vampire_ , not a _cape_."

Colin sighed. "I think she's both. Don't ask me how, I don't know and it's not something that has ever happened before. All of my data suggested that _homo noctis_ simply can't trigger; their inherent biology seemed to prevent it. And yet, the girl clearly has a Trump power and the Master ability that Aegis reported is also aberrant in scope. A slight mesmeric effect has been noted before, but never straight up Mastering. As to the Trump effect, even the self-proclaimed Dracul can't seal the abilities of parahumans. I have been forced to conclude, and Watchdog agrees, that she is a new type of _homo noctis_ , one that either _can_ trigger, or that triggered prior to her metamorphosis with the ability carrying over to her changed form."

"Oh a vampire cape. Well, that's…just jolly." Ethan leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling.

"Aegis," Director Piggot said, her voice quiet yet still cutting through the air of the room. "Are you registering a complaint against the cape Countess?"

Carlos looked between Piggot and Colin. Remembering the look on the Taylor Hebert's face as she pushed away from him and wrapped her arms around herself, huddling in the corner of the alley, the way that Steward had quickly checked him over before running to her friend, the tears that had been falling from the girl's face as she leaned into the hug from the blonde…Even if the whole thing had left him in Master/Stranger isolation for half a day, there was no question of his answer.

After all, he was a Hero.

* * *

The chime sounded throughout the lab at eight o'clock, just as Colin finished fitting the latest modified component into his new halberd. Soldering it into place, he leaned back with a sigh and tapped the comms line to his left. At least his estimates for how long the construction of the weapon would take had been accurate before the interruption. "Armsmaster."

"Sir, this is Corporal Marx at the front desk. You asked to be notified if a cape came in requesting assistance or an audience."

Colin sucked in a breath and shot out of his seat, grabbing pieces of his armor and slapping them on. "Did the cape identify themselves?"

"Her name is Steward, Sir. I've directed her to Conference Room 2."

He silently cursed. He had been _hoping_ that Hebert herself would come in, though he hadn't truly expected it. With a Thinker for a partner, the chances of Hebert coming directly to the PRT building without testing the waters was minimal at best. Steward would have to have been a very poor Thinker to have allowed that to happen. "I'm on my way, please ensure there are refreshments available if Steward wishes."

There was silence on the line as he finished putting on the final pieces of his armor. "…Yes, Sir. I believe there is coffee already in the rooms, but I'll double check."

"Thank you." He closed the line and grabbed his helmet. Frowning at the confusion of the trooper, he shrugged it off. There were more important things to consider than why one PRT soldier didn't want to refill a coffee pot. Wasn't that part of greeter duties anyway?

Within two minutes he was walking through the door for the conference room. His eyebrow raised at the girl sitting at the table, a mug of coffee in hand and a slump in her shoulders that belied the exhaustion she was operating under. For an instant, he thought that maybe they had been wrong and she was a Tinker, one who had overworked herself in the past few days. Then he got a better look at her weapon and dismissed the idea. No self-respecting Tinker would _glue_ gears to their gun. They would just make a better gun. Or buy a better gun if they couldn't make one.

That was when he remembered the state of Countess following the alley encounter; and Steward's weariness made far more sense.

"Good evening," he said, moving to sit across from her. Normally he didn't bother with the chairs in the room while in armor, however it was important to make a good impression on this girl if he had any hope of getting the _homo noctis_ into an amicable working relationship with the PRT.

"Wow, didn't realize I rated Armsmaster himself just yet." The girl looked up from her coffee, let out a long breath and dipped her head back down. "Though I guess you're not really here because of _me_. Am I going to be allowed to leave the building when we're done?"

"Of course, you are not under arrest, nor are we intending to charge you with anything." He frowned. Why was that even a question? Why did she lead with that? What relevance did it have to anything?

"Well that's good. How about my partner? Countess. Are you charging _her_ with anything?"

Ah. She was worried about being able to get back to her friend. "Not at this time. We're treating the incident last night as one strike. I don't know if you are aware, but generally new capes are allowed a few missteps while acclimating to their powers. Please pass along to Countess that she should endeavor to maintain her control in the future, lest we be forced to reevaluate our position."

Steward looked up again, her head bobbing to the side as she took him in. "You really mean that don't you? She fucking attacked your Ward and you're okay with letting her just go about her business."

Armsmaster leaned forward, setting his hands on the table as his eyes narrowed. " _Was_ it an attack? I've watched the camera footage from Aegis' bodycam and listened to his own report of the incident. It didn't appear like an attack, it appeared like - "

"A moment of weakness and an attempt to heal," she finished. Leaning back, she took a long swig of the coffee. "Yeah. You got the right of it. Countess wasn't exactly herself. We'd been searching for a way to get her strength back up and she went and burned out a significant chunk of it in saving that girl. Aegis was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when her instincts took over _hard_. We're already taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"Which is part of the reason why you are here, I assume."

"Testing the waters," she said, shrugging. "I needed to make sure that no one was going to be coming after her, and if they were, better for _me_ to be in here, and for _her_ to be safe."

Armsmaster frowned. "Considering her dietary restrictions, if we _had_ been seeking to detain you, that would have presented its own problems." There was something he was missing.

"True, but fortunately, other arrangements have been made in the event of a worst-case scenario. I didn't think we would need them, but better safe than sorry." She frowned herself as she leaned forward, crossing her arms. "How do _you_ know about her diet concerns?"

Armsmaster grunted. He had been expecting something like this seeing how they had approached Faultline, but he still didn't know how to approach explaining it. "The PRT and others have encountered…similar instances in the past."

The girl shook her head and let out a snort of laughter. "Motherfucker. Faultline wasn't freaking out over nothing. The girl's an honest-to-god _fucking vampire_. How the fuck does that sort of thing stay under wraps?" She was looking at the ceiling and asking a rhetorical question.

That didn't mean that he shouldn't answer it the best he could. "They are vanishingly rare. The only reason I was able to get so much information on them so quickly is because I consulted with Dragon who has worked with one directly in the past."

She dropped her gaze down to meet his eyes, the corners of her mouth starting to lift ever so slightly. "And let me guess, _usually_ they are insane creatures of destruction that are taken out fast enough that the incidents stay quiet. And now that you have one who's lucid again, you want to keep her in your back pocket."

"I wouldn't put it quite that way, but there are statistically proven benefits to working _with_ a member of the _homo noctis_ subrace rather than fighting _against_ them."

The girl's grin grew larger, approaching something that was almost mocking as she nodded. "A very small sample size for statistics I'd imagine. Also…not the only reason you want to work with her."

He shook his head. "That is all I will say on the matter. You will either trust that I mean her well, or you won't. It doesn't particularly matter as neither option affects my own stance or Protectorate policy regarding Countess."

She nodded, her grin falling away. "You know who she is."

He hesitated a moment before nodding.

"And so you know Shadow Stalker and what she did. Well, I gotta say, I'm surprised that the PRT is taking responsibility; even if just in a roundabout way."

He clasped his hands, the sigh shaking his armor. "The Protectorate does what it can."

"Protectorate huh?" She trailed off, and both of them were aware of the distinction in the agencies noted. "Well, it's appreciated. Honestly, I don't really like the PRT. If they knew my own situation as well as you knew Countess' I'm fairly sure you would end up having to package me away because it's in the regs. But…I'm not here for me. I'm here for my friend. Is your resolve to leave her alone contingent on her joining the Wards?"

He shook his head. "It is not. However…I do need to speak with her before we can proceed much further."

"In person."

"In person."

Steward grunted. She took a long enough drink from her coffee that he was certain she would need a refill before she could use that to stall again. "How much is that required in order to continue on? Also, does it have to be at a location of your choosing or can we go with neutral ground? I just want to register our twosome as an Independent Rogue team and get us on your books."

He analyzed her, took in the resigned tone, the sagging shoulders, and how she still continued to clutch at the mug. "I'm sorry, I need to make sure that she is lucid. There are…very few options if she isn't. I would greatly prefer that she comes here. Between the local agents, the cameras, and her willingness to cooperate, it would go quite far to dispel any concerns. If you both are entirely unable to agree to that however, then we can meet at a location of both our choosing in the city. Of course, I would be bringing along another Protectorate member and likely several PRT agents as well; again, for everyone's benefit."

"Yeah, I kinda figured." She sighed. "Fuck. Okay, that's better than I expected at least. I'll call her, but I want something signed with all the bells and whistles that both of us will be allowed to walk away if she steps foot anywhere that you guys are waiting around."

"That's perfectly reasonable. Might I suggest the Rig?"

"I think I'd be okay with that and that I can talk Countess into accepting it as well. I still want that document though, and I want it to stipulate that we'll be allowed to leave _tonight_ , not _tomorrow_ , not _kept overnight_. I want an assurance on this paper that we will be free to walk within," she glanced up at the clock, "six hours. That gives us enough time to get back home before we would have to worry."

He nodded again. "It would not be enough time to contact a lawyer for assistance should such a thing be required."

" _Will_ it be required?"

"Not from my end." He shrugged. "But it wouldn't hurt to stipulate 4 hours instead. Like you said, better safe than sorry."

They both grinned at each other as the girl laughed and reached over to shake his hand before pulling out a phone.


	10. Expansion 01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I realize that canon dates don't quite work for the Canary trial with the Simurgh attacking Canberra on February 24 and the locker incident occurring sometime in January. But since we're in an AU anyway, I'm just going to play a bit loose with the dates here. So Canary's trial is currently in progress (if not finished yet) in this story.

**Expansion 01**

I fiddled with the buttons on my trench coat and adjusted my bandana as I got closer to the boat on the pier. The Rig was easily visible just a short ride away, all lit up and beautiful. I had the odd sensation of realizing what a moth must have felt like looking at a flame.

Shaking my head to clear morbid thoughts, I lifted my hand in a wave as Steward stepped away from Armsmaster - _Armsmaster_ \- and hurried to cross the few feet separating us.

"Hey," she said, her smile wide. "You sure you're okay with this? Last chance to back out."

"I think it's a bit late for that as it is," I replied, inclined my head towards Armsmaster. He stood a respectable distance away, but he was clearly listening to us.

The soft murmuring and replies coming from his helmet was more than enough proof of that. At least they were pretending to be polite. And that I had apparently warranted the attention of _Dragon_ too was…This night was already getting overwhelming and we hadn't even gotten to the Rig yet.

"Nah, they'd let you go and try for a different night if you asked. Seriously though," she reached out and clutched my arm, her smile dropping away. In its place was left searching eyes and thinned lips. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and laid my hand over hers, squeezing lightly. "I'm _much_ better. I haven't felt this good since I, well, woke up."

A ghost of her smile returned. "The second time surely. Not the first. I can't imagine _that_ one was fun."

I still didn't remember waking up in my coffin. That was definitely a good thing. Shivering for effect I nodded vigorously. "Yes, definitely the second time. Your bed was much softer than wood."

"Ha. Ha." Her cheer fled again and she dropped my arm and shook her head. "Rats aren't going to cut it anymore. You know that right?"

"Yeah," I murmured, staring at the ground. "Charlotte and Madison are sleeping along with Emma. Forrest said he was going to go and get groceries before he turned in. I think Emma gave him her credit card before she passed out."

"We need more sources of income besides leeching off of Red. I'll think of something. Hopefully tonight leads to some sort of affiliated assistance deal or something. Or we just knock over the Merchants. Pretty sure you're going to be doing that anyway." She chuckled at the end. It didn't stop me from snarling at the memory of those _Rotters_ and their _polluted_ blood.

How _dare_ they. If I wanted to feed from someone in _my_ city, I should be able to feed from _anyone_. They _dared_ poison their blood? They _dared_ take what was _mine_? They would learn. They would _all_ learn.

"Countess."

I sucked in a breath, Lisa's minty scent washing away the rage, the undercurrent of rosemary filling in for the aching need to punish. Breathing in again, I let my fists unclench and nodded. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be able to ignore them for long."

"…I'm going to need to find a fifth Renfield for you."

"I'm fine. Really, it's just territorialism. Which is…weird, but on the scale of One to Holy Shit Leviathan Just Did a Tapdance, it barely registers. At least, you know, compared to being a vampire."

She laughed and slapped my back. "Girl, I love your optimism. Come on, let's go. Now remember what I said on the phone, I'm pretty sure that Armsmaster knows more about this whole fucked up situation than we do, so let's play nice and get him dishing the deets."

I just stared at her as we started to walk back. "Please don't ever say that again."

She smirked, her grin growing far too vulpine to ignore. "Aww, but I like playing the Innocent Valley Girl sometimes. I mean, I am shacking up with a vampire, if I can't play up the poor, foolish, high school girl, whatever am I to do?"

I felt a smile cracking my expression as I rolled my eyes. "You can try to be the mature one? You are older than me by a few months."

"Take all of the fun out of it, why dontcha," Lisa muttered.

I stopped in front of Armsmaster and lifted my gloved hand in another wave, this one considerably weaker than what I had done with Lisa a few moments ago. "Um, hi. I'm, err, Countess."

"I'm aware. It's a pleasure to meet you, Countess. Please, follow me and we'll head over to the Rig. Then this meeting can officially start."

I nodded and stepped past him onto the boat, Lisa right on my heels.

Hopefully this light wouldn't be quite as dangerous as most moths found flame.

* * *

I watched the fish in the water as the boat sped across the bay, frowning and cocking my head to side as we passed a particularly deep section. Armsmaster didn't miss the motion and pointed towards the patch of water that we had just left behind. "Something interesting?"

"Did you know that there are whales here?" I asked. I focused, my vision sharpening, and I was just barely able to pick out a few dorsal fins before we got too far away. "Orcas. I always thought they were beautiful."

"Those guys are vicious," Stewart said, leaning back in her seat and splaying her arms across the back. "Evil whales is what they are."

I glared at her. "Just because they can be a little mean doesn't mean -"

"Countess, sweetie, I like you, but orcas are sadistic. Don't go playing with the whales." I just crossed my arms and dropped back into the seat, continuing to glare at her. "How did you even know they were there?"

"Smelled them. Then I saw them. Apparently they smell like seaweed. I didn't even know what seaweed smelled like until five minutes ago."

Armsmaster leaned forward, his halberd forgotten by his side as he studied me. "Your ability is providing the names of the scents you experience?"

I shrugged. "Maybe? I just know what their blood smells like. I can't really explain it. It's more of a feeling I guess."

He leaned back, frowning and muttering to himself. "Genetic memories perhaps? Or some sort of instinctively granted knowledge similar to Tinkers?"

I looked to Steward, who shook her head and shrugged. She probably couldn't hear his murmurs over the crashes on the hull from the waves anyway.

It only took another minute before we were tied up alongside the Rig. I goggled at the converted oil platform, its origins barely even visible anymore after the modifications that it had gone through. Armsmaster led us through the corridors at a brisk pace, the mingled scents of everyone tickling my nose and the noise pounding against my ears. Everything was amplified by, and echoed against, the metal and if I hadn't had so much practice recently in selectively tuning out my senses, I'd have been nearly deafened by the sound. As it was, it was almost beautiful, in a chaotic, frenzied sort of way.

We were sitting at a table in front of wide panoramic windows showcasing the city shoreline almost before I realized we had stopped moving. I took a moment to turn in a circle, my grin wide and wondrous under my bandana.

"Pretty impressive view isn't it?"

I glanced to the side as I took my seat, nodding enthusiastically to Battery. "Yeah. I haven't left the city much and while my dad may have worked with the Dockworkers, we never really went into the bay itself. This is beautiful."

 _And mine_.

Armsmaster's hand tightened on his halberd even as he went to release it. I focused my gaze on him. Why would he have tensed? What did I say that would warrant…Oh. "There's not much point in my bandana is there?"

Armsmaster dipped his head, his hand finally letting his halberd go as he clasped his hands on the table. "It assists in separating civilian lives from cape lives, if you wish to leave it on for the duration, that's perfectly fine, Countess. However, yes, we are aware of your civilian name. That was, regrettably, entirely unavoidable."

Steward smiled, nothing pleasant present in her smirk as she leaned forward. "It _might_ have been avoidable if this city had Lazarus tables. Or you know, if you fixed your psychotic Ward problem."

"I agree. Both issues have already been addressed."

"Really?" I asked. "Um, thanks I guess."

"This situation was unfortunate and should never have occurred. You'll receive suitable compensation. It will not be enough, but it is all we can legally do."

My eyes widened and I forgot to pretend to breathe for a few moments. "Oh."

"I had intended to avoid this topic, however since we are already discussing it, there is the issue of Miss Barnes as well. We can assist in pressing charges if you wish. Her guilt in your circumstances are documented and she herself admitted to them multiple times. Even with the local law enforcement choosing not to move forward, I am certain I can bring something to bear with a modicum of effort. Nothing can be done regarding your father as she was not involved in that."

I shook my head. "Thank you, but no. Emma is, well she's trying to make things right with me. I don't fully remember everything that happened so I would prefer not to punish her for something I barely feel connected to, not when she's trying hard to make up for it as it is. I'm pretty sure she had a mental breakdown when she found me as it is. We used to be friends. Beating on her now is just…There's justice and there's petty revenge, and this would be the latter."

Armsmaster nodded. "I understand."

Steward tapped the table. "Why do you guys care? I'd expect this sort of pitch when I was back in the PRT building from those suits. Not from you here in the Protectorate holdout."

He scowled. "The PRT deemed pursuing the matter unworthy of resources. They did not consider the core issue worth wasting time on since the capes in question were either dead or shipped away. That should not matter. A trigger event crime is nearly _always_ worth pursuing."

Battery cleared her throat and leaned over the table, sliding a document towards us. "Moving away from hot button issues, while this meeting is primarily to discuss the incident regarding Aegis last night, we do also have to bring up a few other concerns, Countess, Steward. Now, again, bear in mind that there is a disconnect between cape and civilian lives so none of these programs are mandatory, however I urge you to take a look at them all the same."

I picked up a pamphlet and frowned as I read the headline. "Foster care?"

"Unless you already have an official guardian…?" At the shake of my head she sighed. "Yeah, thought so. Look, I'm not trying to push you into something you're uncomfortable with. We just want to make sure that you're in a good environment and not living on the streets. I - I'm sorry, but I saw what happened when you 'woke up'. I want to help."

Steward nodded, and took a few of the flyers from my hand laying them on the table. "We appreciate the concern, Battery. I've got it covered. We have a roof over our heads and if you're floating money her way, we'll have funds until I can get our guardian a job while our business starts up in the meantime."

I gave her a questioning glance.

"Forrest is an old guy. He counts," she murmured back, rubbing at her head.

I frowned, holding myself back from reaching over to rub her shoulders. How long had it been since she'd slept? And I had drank from her earlier too…not much, but…She needed rest.

Battery winced, but she nodded. "Please just keep it in mind. Moving on, we are aware that you have some, uh, dietary concerns?"

I grimaced, my fangs itching almost as if they knew they were being discussed. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Are things under control now?" Armsmaster asked. "You appear lucid at least. Far more so than in the footage obtained from the encounter with Aegis."

"I was hungry then, very hungry. I'm not now."

"Are you going to be hungry again in the future?"

"There are subtler ways to put that, big guy," Steward muttered. Battery's muffled groan spoke volumes of her apparent agreement.

I looked Armsmaster in the eyes and slowly, deliberately shook my head from side-to-side. "I was trying to get by with just rats and two supplements. It apparently didn't work. I've learned from that. It won't happen again."

"And your 'supplements', they are aware of the circumstances?"

"You mean that I triggered with a power that makes me a fucking vampire and am asking to politely drink their blood?" I snapped. Armsmaster and Battery both had the decency to wince at that. Steward laid a hand on my arm. I let out a hissing breath and jerked my head. "Yes, they're aware that I'm a vampire. I'm not Enthralling any of them to let me drink from their veins. I just asked."

"Technically I asked," Steward chimed in.

"Same difference."

"Enthralling?" Armsmaster asked leaning forward again. "Aegis reported something similar. This is a new ability. While there have been scattered reports of others, it wasn't ever anything worthy of note. Can you Master someone with this power?"

"No. Not really," Steward jumped in, cutting off anything I was going to say. "She can give suggestions in the heat of the moment. That's it. Direct eye contact is required and the subject _knows_ they are affected afterwards."

"We're telling them this, why?" I muttered.

"I'm not letting you get railroaded like Canary."

Armsmaster's scowl at that was enough to send a shiver down my spine and I could smell something from Battery that I had never tasted before. If pressed, I almost would've said…shame?

"No Master will ever be targeted like Canary was in _my_ city. The justice system has made a mockery out of capes!" His growl was impressive. 10 out of 10. Apparently I'd have to look into Canary's ongoing trial closer.

Steward frowned. She spoke slowly, her voice quiet, "You aren't the ones who get jurisdiction in those types of cases though. That's the PRT and then the courts."

"There are always alternatives."

Battery cleared her throat again, drawing all eyes to her. She tried to smile, but it fell flat. "Right. Well. Countess, I believe we're pretty much ready to get properly started. Steward mentioned that you both wanted to sign up as affiliated Rogues?"

I inclined my head towards my friend. "She's more up to speed on that."

"ParaDetect and Vamp was what I was thinking," she said, her grin back in full.

I groaned and slapped a hand to my face as Battery chuckled. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Of course I'm joking. We'd never get any customers with a name as lame as that. Gimme the docs Batt! I gotta see what we're working with. Countess, gather data on your condition while I peruse."

I just stared at her. "What?"

She set the papers down with a sigh and turned to face me directly. "Taylor, my head is fucking killing me. I can barely see, I can barely think, it's all I can do to stay conscious and every damn thing these people are saying is setting my power off again. Armsmaster is in a Cold War with the PRT and Battery is trying to stop it from turning hot. If I have to keep looking up at them I'm going to pass out before we get back to the boat. Please, take point for a few minutes."

My eyes widened. That she had calmly stated all of that while Armsmaster and Battery were sitting only a few feet away…

"Thinker headache," Armsmaster grunted. "We can finish this another time if you would prefer."

I held out my hand. "Let me help."

Lisa stared at the proffered limb for a few seconds. It didn't take her long to decide. "Fuck it, better than keeling over," she muttered. "Armsmaster, you wanted to make sure that she could feed without losing her head? Hands on demonstration." Lisa dropped her wrist into my hand and before the heroes could do more than stand up from the table and start to move around it, I had lifted my bandana and sunk my fangs into her wrist.

Mint filled my nose along with just a hint of rosemary. Lisa sighed, leaning back in her chair, a genuine smile spreading on her face. It was over in under three seconds. By the time the others had reached our side of the table I had already released Lisa's wrist and she had pulled her hand back, while I dropped my bandana down again.

"Better?"

She nodded. "I'm going to get addicted to that. You gotta stop offering to put me on mute whenever things get too loud."

"Pretty sure you would've ran away at the first 'Oh no, she really is a vampire!' signs if you weren't already hooked on the quiet."

Lisa looked at me frowning. "You _know_ that's not true now, and don't joke about stuff like that. I don't have many friends, Countess."

_Was initially concerned. Concern was overridden by desire to repay you. Considers you friend. Is loyal. Will set the Protectorate and PRT against each other to protect you if required._

I smiled, reaching down to squeeze her hand. "I know. And thanks. It's been awhile since I had a good friend."

"Well it's been awhile since I _could_ have a friend, so the feeling is mutual sweetie. Now let's stop scaring the nice Protectorate folks shall we?"

I nodded and turned back to the heroes. Armsmaster had moved back to his seat, though his gaze was fixed firmly on me; Battery was looking a little ill as she stared between the two of us.

"You really can absorb powers that easily…" he murmured.

"Aegis didn't tell you?"

"He did, but - _homo noctis_ do not have that ability. It is entirely unique. As is the Enthrallment. An amount of…influence is historically accurate. The level of suggestion you implied however, is not. You are something new, Miss Hebert, and that is concerning on several levels."

"Homo Noctis?" I asked.

_Latin species name. Vampire species name. Vampires are a species. You are not a cape. You are a vampire. Vampires are known. Vampires are rare otherwise more would have known about this beforehand. Full abilities are unique. You are a cape. You are a cape and a vampire. Armsmaster surprised at level of power. No record of this has occurred, hence surprise. Your scarring did not fully heal even with Aegis' power. Scars would have healed with vampire abilities. Scar from autopsy. Triggered earlier. Triggered during locker. Trigger interrupted by death. Trigger resumed after initial regeneration following autopsy. Trigger interrupted regeneration. Resumed trigger event defined state of body at time as 'normal'. Parahuman power and vampirism combined. Scar will not heal. Scar cannot heal. Scar intrinsically linked to combination of interrupted trigger and vampirism._

I groaned and fell forward to bang my head on the table, running a hand through my hair. Lisa reached over to massage the back of my scalp.

"I _hate_ your power," I hissed.

"It usually doesn't go on for that long. You spaced out. I think it _likes_ you, babe."

"I hate you."

Battery gave a strangled sort of cough. "Did you just offer to let her drink your blood? Why?!"

"The Big Guy already said it, Thinker headache. Nothing to do about it for me, except to get to a quiet room, try desperately to sleep, and hope to god that it's diminished to a point I can function by the time I wake up. My power doesn't ever turn off, not really. It's why I'd make an excellent detective. Between my power and skills, I'm a fucking badass. The flip side is that my power _doesn't turn off_. Countess here, not only steals my powers for a bit, getting the whispering in my skull to shut down, but she also conveniently mutes my Thinker headache. For a bit at least. As long as I go to sleep in the next hour or two, by the time I wake up, I should be right as rain. She's a freaking godsend for someone like me."

"I…see. Can this effect be repeated with other thinkers?"

Lisa waved a hand in the air. "No idea. Maybe? I'm the only one in our group at the moment and we haven't exactly gone looking for people for chow down on. Sort of the opposite obviously. Others would have to be willing to let Countess feed from them if you want to test it."

"Ah." From the queasy look, it seemed like she understood the stigma.

I shook my head, trying to avoid looking too closely at any of them or thinking about their scents and setting off Lisa's power again. Instead, I forced a smile and focused on something else equally important.

"So. Let's talk about vampires."


	11. Expansion 02

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Wow this chapter took forever to finish. I've been working on this since January 6th...But it's done now! I hope everyone enjoys how this conversation ended up going. (Conversation? In Worm?! Blasphemy!)

**Expansion 02**

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, holding my hands up in a T and trying desperately not to scowl. "You're saying that not only are _actual_ vampires out there, but that apparently it's _genetic_?"

"Yes."

I glared at Armsmaster. "Matrilineal or patrilineal?"

"It could be either, though from my limited data sets it appears more likely to be passed from mother to child."

"Is my _mom_ a fucking vampire too?!"

Battery quickly cut in before Armsmaster could say anything. "It's really unlikely. And even if she had changed like you did, the odds weren't in her favor for surviving with her intellect intact. She probably would have died - again - within a few days. It wouldn't have been your mother. You've beaten the odds; she would be proud of you and you should focus on that."

I just hissed.

"Countess, you're not angry at these nice folk, you're angry at the world being fucked up. It's not polite to snarl at people telling you facts. That's how you get a bad rep."

I turned to glare at Lisa. "I am a vampire and vampires are _real_ , this isn't just some crazy power. Excuse me for being annoyed! I swear to god…if my mom knew about this and didn't tell me…"

"As Battery stated, it is highly unlikely she was aware." Armsmaster picked out a few papers and handed them over to me. "I haven't had the time to run scans, but there was no sign of soil disruption around her grave as there was around your own."

"So that's what we're calling breaking out of my coffin, gotcha," I murmured looking over his documents. "What are these? This is really technical."

_Data on prior vampiric events. Consolidated UV indexes cross-referenced by visible burns on known collaborators. Freely given assistance in effort to provoke favorable response. Armsmaster is attempting to establish an amicable working relationship._

I looked up at him, my eyes wide. "You have tables on how much light is needed to hurt people like me?"

"We do. The PRT as a whole has worked with three _homo noctis_ members in the past. We are still actively working with one, though she is quite reclusive and regularly vanishes for several months or longer. That is…better than the affiliated party in Europe. He barely seems to exist in the world with how rarely he interacts with anyone - barring those he takes umbrage against."

Lisa leaned over and grabbed the charts, her eyes narrowing. "Jesus. I wish we had this a week ago. I wouldn't have had to practically kill you if I could've looked this over before our experiment."

Armsmaster's head snapped towards her fast enough I could hear his neck crack. "What happened?"

"Safety test. Didn't work out so well," she murmured, shifting through the reports with a deep frown.

"We had to know if I would be able to run outside for short distances in emergencies. I stuck my hand into a beam of sunlight."

Battery cringed, swallowing hard. "That sounds very painful."

"I've never hurt more in my life. Or unlife I guess?" I muttered. "But yeah, my hand was practically burned off and I could barely think, it hurt that bad. We had to reach out to someone else, just so I would have enough blood to regenerate. Steward wouldn't have been enough on her own, not without hurting her." Shaking my head, I brushed aside the memories. "It's not important. Thank you for the data. This really helps. I'm guessing you want something in return about why I'm different from regular vampires? I don't know how much I can tell you." Or how much I was willing to tell them; cooperation only went so far, and some secrets should be kept close to the chest.

Armsmaster rallied well. He gestured towards the papers with a nod. "I am hopeful that this could be the start of an amicable working relationship. The affiliation with the PRT and Protectorate is the start to that. The data is my method of showing that the Protectorate is willing to actually work together, instead of having our agreement exist solely on paper."

"And what are you looking for in exchange?" I asked, my eyes narrowing as my nostrils flared to take in his scent. Now that we were away from the majority of the base it was easier to isolate them both. Armsmaster was nearly equal parts iron and borage while Battery's blood scent was primarily linen with a degree of plastic mixed in.

There was no way I was actually smelling real things. It had to be concepts…right? It had to be a form of synesthesia.

"Some sort of information you would be willing to offer in good faith would be appreciated, however I am willing to accept something as simple as a theory on how you might have parahuman abilities when none before you have. It could be important - both for your sub-race and for the city as a whole. The increase in the population capable of successfully completing the _homo noctis_ metamorphosis since the rise of parahumans is statistically significant, yet no parahuman _homo noctis_ have ever been recorded before you."

Because apparently nobody had died _during_ their trigger and then came back to life soon enough to _finish_ triggering. I should probably feel special, but all I really felt was the urge to tear into Sophia's throat. Just because I didn't fully remember being shoved into the locker, didn't mean that it hadn't hurt me enough to both trigger and kill me. That deserved more punishment than whatever Piggot or Armsmaster were doing to her.

Why didn't I feel the same level of vitriol towards Emma? Was it because she had been my friend? Was it because she had come to me begging to make it right? Was it because she was willingly enslaving herself to me?

Not hating Madison was easy enough to answer, Madison hadn't actually tried to kill me and she'd helped Emma rat on themselves when after I'd died. But…why didn't I hate Emma like I hated Sophia?

_Projecting childhood feelings onto current relationship. Projection is easier due to damaged memories and demonstrated remorse. Projection is easier due to clear evidence of distorted world view. Projection is easier due to Emma having already tried to seek punishment prior to knowledge of revival._

Well…oookkaay. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Let's go with 'acceptable'. Yeah. I needed to not think about stuff like that while holding onto Lisa's power. Self-reflection was dangerous.

"What Armsmaster is _trying_ to say," Battery said, spreading her arms wide. I shook my head and refocused, noticing the shift in her leg that probably indicated she had reached out to kick his shin while I was distracted. "Is that we aren't prying. We're not asking for anything you aren't willing to share. This is simply a show of good faith on both sides to try and bury the hatchet, and put whatever we all may have said or done in the past. New Wave did the same thing when they started out as the Brockton Bay Brigade years back. Normally, we'd be talking about this with an adult, however, obviously that isn't really an option here."

_Armsmaster is not intending to come across as insensitive. Bluntness likely a result of atrophied social skills. Both are sincere. Both trying to establish permanent pleasant affiliation. Armsmaster emphasizing Protectorate over PRT. Cracks between PRT and Protectorate are widening._

I tapped my fingers on the table, glanced at Lisa and blew air through my teeth. Finally, I leaned back, and looked at the ceiling. I really should give them something. And if Armsmaster really had more information on vampires and was willing to share…

"I have some sort of genetic memories. I don't fully know to what extent, but I started talking and thinking in a weird language when I was starving. That was when I…met Aegis. I wasn't as mindlessly incoherent as he probably thought. I was very aware of what was going on, but I was _so very hungry_. I wasn't going to risk Steward getting hurt by feeding on her and leaving her weak, the girl I'd just helped was normal, and I refuse to degrade myself so far as to even touch the tainted blood of one of the Merchants. But I needed to eat, and I knew Aegis would be fine as long as I was careful. So I drank from him until I snapped back to _me_ instead of whatever haze I had fallen into."

Armsmaster leaned forward, scratching out notes on a pad that had appeared beneath his hand as if by magic. "Intriguing. I have not come across this information before. What sort of language?"

"Steward thinks it's Romanian."

"Hmm, that lends even more credence to Vlad's assertions that he is the progenitor. I _must_ speak with him…"

Battery cleared her throat. I didn't have to consult Lisa's power to tell that her smile was fraying. "Thank you for sharing that, Countess, I'm sure that should help our research into this condition. Do you have any other immediate questions for us?"

Lisa sighed, folding her hands on the table. "I got one before we break for the evening. Any idea how many, let's say 'friends' my partner is going to need to have on speed dial?"

"Helsing claimed to have a 'harem' of six women," Armsmaster said, scowling. "His claims were never verified fully. We only ever had evidence of three members of his supposed followers and they all vanished along with him two years prior. Nightshade has a rotating inner circle composed largely of a core group between four to eight people at any given time. She has claimed that when she is more active she generally has more personnel that she leans on for support."

"That would make sense based on what I experienced when I was ramped up against the Merchants the other night," I murmured.

"Nightshade also isn't as vulgar as Helsing." Battery said. "Only one member of her group is constantly at her side, all the others change from meeting to meeting and it's rare that the others are seen more than two or three times with her."

"Vlad is an anomaly. Again," Armsmaster continued. "He is nearly always alone. The only times he is not, he is with three people he refers to as his 'Brides'. They do not appear to be capes, however - if we take old portraits at face value - they are extremely long-lived."

"How long-lived?" Lisa asked, frowning.

"There are several portraits with individuals that could be the same personnel dating back to at least 1738."

Battery hurriedly waved her hands, even as Lisa's mouth dropped. "But he could just have a type too! That's why I've been saying, but I'm getting shouted down by these conspiracy theorists. We don't really know much about Vlad at all, except that he's creepy and generally seems willing to help people he takes a liking to. He's chased off a few of the bigger capes from his neck of the woods in the last few years. That's all we really know for sure. Any other questions?"

"…I think I'm good for the moment. Countess you got anything else you want to talk about right now? It's getting early. We can head back and we can talk with these guys more some other time."

_The Soţies were enhanced and protected by the developed bond._

I frowned and let my head drop to my chest. That hadn't been Lisa's power that whispered to me. That hadn't even been words. That was…a…feeling?

Man, where was the instruction book for being a vampire when you needed it?

* * *

Lisa and I were in her car, our costumes folded in the back seat before she looked at me, asking softly, "So, I saw you figured out the powers thing. Any particular reason you didn't want to tell them about it?"

"Do you think I should've?" I asked, staring out the window as Lisa started forward with the changing light.

"No, hell no. I'd take that secret to the grave and beyond if it was me. If that sort of thing gets out and people try to weaponize it? Whether they are fanged or not? That's not the type of info you want just floating about." She fell silent, her face nearly unreadable and her fingers tightening on the wheel. "But you're not me, Taylor. I'm secretive, I don't really trust people unless I have blackmail on them, I'm a bitch, I'm controlling, I like to be the backseat driver…You're not me. You _want_ to trust people, even if you really _don't_. So, you should do what feels right to you."

I pulled away from the window, facing her fully, my lips curling up into a smile as I nodded and reached over to grasp her hand when she laid it on the center console. "Thanks, Lisa."

"Anytime, sweetie. That's what I'm here for." She was quiet for all of five seconds before glancing at me again, her face completely void of all expression except a raised eyebrow. "Seriously though, how the hell do you have powers when apparently vampires don't get them. You can't not tell _me_."

I burst out laughing at the deadpan demand for information. Lisa's smirk and chuckle soon followed. Leaning back, I shrugged. "It's not that complicated really, just really, really unlikely apparently. I triggered, then I died."

"Yeah, I kinda got that, Taylor."

"No, I mean, I triggered, died, resurrected, finished triggering." I waved my hand towards my chest. "According to your power, when my trigger finished reconnecting to me I was only partially regenerated. My body defaulted to that as its new baseline. It's why I can't heal _this_."

"That's…I don't think powers work like that…At least they're not supposed to."

I shrugged again. "I'm not a power guru, Lisa. I'm just going with what I know and what your Super Intuition said. I think that whatever power set I was _going_ to have was close to what I _technically_ have as a vampire, but once I _became_ a vampire, it sorta, _morphed_ or something and integrated better - because it was still flexible and hadn't 'set' yet. Because I was still triggering when I died."

"Okay." She frowned. "This is honestly a bit worse than I thought. If this gets out, we could have crazies trying to kill people mid-Trigger just in the hope that they resurrect as a Super Vamp."

"Ugh, yeah, I know. That's why I didn't tell Armsmaster and Battery. To be honest, I'm more worried about knowing things I shouldn't."

"You're not talking about my power," Lisa stated.

"No. When they mentioned the women with that guy, Vlad, I knew immediately that they were human. That they were just…improved, safeguarded, protected. They were _his_ and _he_ was _theirs_ and unless someone killed them, they would stay together as long as both wished."

The car rolled to halt in the parking lot to our building and Lisa turned to stare at me, her eyes wide. "That's…kind of a big deal, Taylor. Are you saying he turned those women immortal or something?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Without actually _changing_ them?"

"Sorta. It has something to do with exchanging blood. I'm not really sure of the specifics…Youth but not invulnerability? That feels right. I don't know how though. Maybe a…tailored virus?"

"And that you just _know_ this?"

"…Yeah."

She was silent for nearly a minute before audibly swallowing and raising a finger in the air. "Right. Okay, well at least we know why you guys haven't overrun the Earth. Your attrition rates at 'birth' are that high. I'm glad of that, because if most of your kin didn't all die, Earth would be overrun by vampires and their immortal harem members in just a few decades."

Well…there was a sobering thought.

"Hey do you think there are werewolves out there too? Maybe they hunt you guys and vampires and werewolves are locked in eternal, romantic war with each other to help keep both races numbers too low for normals to notice!" Aaand just like that her playful smirk was back.

"Lisa," I said, my voice completely flat as I got out of the car. "Just so you know, when we get upstairs, I'm burning all of your cheesy tween vampire romance novels."

She laughed and threw an arm around my shoulder, guiding me forward. "That's fair. But in recompense, I'm going to subject you to cheesy tween vampire romance _movies_."

I groaned. Hopefully one of the others would be able to distract her first. Lisa was the type to follow through with her threat just because it was hilarious.

I was a _vampire_. A _real_ vampire. I should have a mansion. With servants. And piles of gold. Nightshade and Vlad probably had those.

I was such a lame vampire.

"Hmm…Hey do you think that super mojo works with animals? Bunnicula is kinda growing on me…"

I glanced towards my friend, my lips lifting in a small, barely noticeable smile as I chuckled.

Maybe I was a lame vampire. But I was a lame vampire with a friend, a recovering friend, and a bunny.

I bet none of the _other_ vampires had bunnies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So borage is apparently an actual plant. And according to the language of flowers it represents: bluntness/directness. The more you learn...


End file.
